r 


-  ...ARYOFPRINU      . 


NOTE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


In  preparing  a  new  edition  of  these  pages  for  the 
press,  no  better  introduction  can  be  found,  than  the 
following  extract  from  a  recent  English  magazine. 

It  is  Lom  a  paper  on  "Missionaries'  sacrifices," 
written  bj'  the  late  Dr.  Livingstone  (and  no  man 
knew  Africa  better  than  he),  and  famished  for  pub- 
lication by  his  family  since  his  death. 

The  whole  article  would  be  well  worth  copying 
did  space  allow. 

"  A  monstrous  idea  once  obtained  among  those 
from  whose  own  education  we  might  have  hoped 
better  things — '  that  any  pious  man  who  could  read 
his  Bible  and  make  a  wheelbarrow  was  good  enough 
to  be  a  missionary ;'  and  the  idea  is  not  yet  quite 
extinct,  that  more  learning  and  ability  are  needed 
for  the  home  pastorate  than  for  the  foreign  field. 

"  What  kind  of  preaching  has  been  the  most  suc- 
cessful at  home?  The  faithful,  earnest,  affectionate 
exhibition  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  the  same  abroad. 
But  the  missionary  has  many  more  duties  to  perform 
than  the  pastor  at  home.  He  is  expected  to  be  a 
model  of  all  the  Christian  virtues,  and  perhaps  the 


iv  NOTE  TO  TEE  THIRD  EDITION. 

only  model  his  people  may  ever  see.  Tie  has  to 
adapt  his  thoughts  to  a  new  current,  and  his  abili- 
ties must  be  equal  to  every  emergency  that  may 
arise.  In  Africa  he  is  a  Jack-of-all-trades  without 
and  a  maid-of-all-work  within.  The  pastor  at  home 
has  a  whole  congregation  to  keep  him  right ;  he  lias 
fi  posi^e  comifatus  of  enlightened  deacons  to  put  him 
right  and  hold  him  up  when  be  takes  a  false  step. 
Is  he  expected  to  be  able  to  move  with  propriety  in 
genteel  company  ?  The  missionary  more.  Even 
dealing  with  the  rudest  tribes  in  Africa,  he  finds  tliat 
politeness  and  good  manners  go  a  great  way.  There 
is  not  a  woman  in  the  country  w^ho  will  not  hsfcen 
respectfully  if  you  address  her  by  the  name  mother 
(ma);  and  a  courteous  manner  toward  the  different 
ranks  and  degrees  of  the  aristocracy  goes  as  far  w^itli 
thorn  as  among  the  higher  cu'cles  at  home.  He  must 
do  all  this  in  a  foreign  tongue.  His  teaching  and 
arguments  are  all  in  the  same  language.  It  is  easy 
to  call  the  customs  of  the  heathen  foolish  and  be- 
nighted, and  so  forth,  but  to  enlighten  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent matter.  We  question  if  many  of  our  home 
ministers  would  come  off  victorious  in  an  argument 
about  rain-making.  A  missionary  has  to  originate 
many  new  ideas,  and  convey  them  to  those  who  have 
not  even  the  words  in  their  lanf]fuaf):e.  The  idea  of 
moral  purity,  for  instance,  or  hohness,  is  derived 
from  the  Hebrew,  and  is  found  in  no  language,  un- 
less taken  from  the  Bible.  Tliere  is  no  such  idea  in 
the  heathen  mind,  nor  any  phrase  to  express  the  full 
force  of  the  thought.  Ihit  the  home  pastor  has  the 
whole  sacred  phraseology  ready  made.     The  ti-utli 


NOTE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  y 

seems  to  be,  that  the  ministers  of  Christ  ought  all  to 
be  highly  educated,  whether  for  the  home  or  foreign 
field  ;  and  if  high  education  can,  in  either  case,  be 
disjDensed  with,  it  is  not  the  foreign  laborer  who  will 

miss  it  least." 


CHRIS  T I  AN     WORK. 


ZULUS  AS  HEATHEN  AND  AS  CHRISTIANS. 

If  you  were  to  come  into  our  Sun  day- school  any 
Sunday  afternoon,  you  would  see  among  the  infant 
scholars  two  little  girls  about  six  years  of  age,  who 
would  attract  your  attention  by  their  bright  faces 
and  beautiful  eyes.  They  are  the  children  of  one  of 
the  best  and  richest  men  at  the  station,  and  his  his- 
tory is  most  wonderful  and  interesting. 

During  the  reign  of  Dingaan,  the  great  and  cruel 
chief  of  the  Zulus,  the  natives  were  slaughtered,  far 
and  wide,  at  his  will.  So  cruel  w^as  he,  that  every 
year  having  sent  through  the  whole  country  and 
collected  all  the  young  girls,  he  selected  a  certain 
number  of  the  prettiest  for  his  wives.  Having 
brought  them  to  his  kraals,  he  gave  orders  to  his 
chiaf  men,  and  they  sent  out  and  killed  all  those  he 
had  chosen  the  year  before.  So  year  by  year  great 
numbers  of  young  Zulu  girls  perished. 

The  father  of  Kalo,  and  grandfather  of  these  two 
little  girls  in  our  infant-school,  was  one  of  Dingaan's 
head  men.  But  one  day  suddenly  he  was  charged 
with  witchcraft  and  dragged  away  to  be  killed.  His 
wife,  fearing  or  rather  knowing  her  fate  Avould  also 
be  death,  fled  in  the  night  from  her  kraal,  with  her 

a) 


8  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

baby-girl  on  her  back  and  her  little  boy  Kalo  by 
her  side.  She  traveled  far,  across  plains  and  rivers, 
but  having  gone  during  two  days  without  food,  Avas 
ready  to  lie  down  and  die.  Then  she  remembered 
having  heard  there  was  a  missionary,  six  miles  off, 
who  was  a  "  man  of  mercy."  Leaving  her  little  boy 
in  the  bush,  as  he  was  too  weak  to  travel  further, 
she  crept  slowly  on  and  finally  reached  the  station. 
Going  to  Mr.  G.,  she  said,  "  I  am  starved  and  dying, 
but  I  give  myself  and  my  children  to  you  to  do  as 
you  please  with  us.  They  say  you  are  merciful." 
Having  taken  food,  she  hastened  back  to  the  bush 
and  found  her  boy.  The  tliree  were  then  taken 
under  the  care  of  the  missionary  and  are  now  all 
Christians. 

The  old  mother  totters  to  church  on  Sunday, 
bringing  with  her  the  baby  of  her  daughter,  who  is 
married  to  a  young  man,  and  they  live  iu  a  pretty 
little  house  up  on  the  hill.  Kalo  lives  across  the 
river,  and  when  I  went  over  there  the  other  day,  I 
was  struck  with  the  exceeding  neatness  of  every- 
thing and  the  air  of  prosperity  on  every  side.  He  is 
zealous  in  his  work  for  others,  and  gives  abundantly 
of  the  money  which  he  says  God  has  given  him. 
And  so  to  each  of  these  clothed  and  Christianized 
natives  the  missionary  has  proved  "  a  man  of  mercy," 
and  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  a  message  of  salva- 
tion, temporal  as  well  as  eternal. 

SUPERSTITIONS. 

Quite  an  important  part  of  the  Zulu  community 
is  the  body  of  witcli-doctors  and  rain-doctors,  who 


IJSr  ZULU  LAND.  9 

are  generally  men,  though  occasionally  a  woman  is 
considered  "  divinely  called."  They  are  very  shrewd 
and  sharp,  and  wonderful  are  the  stories  told  of 
them,  and  of  the  ways  in  which  they  secure  the  faith 
of  this  people.  They  discover  those  who  are  be- 
witched, and  the  king  causes  them  to  be  put  to 
death.  They  detect  those  who  steal  and  those  who 
kill;  they  also  bring  rain  and  cure  diseases  by  their 
medicines,  their  fires  and  incantations.  At  least  ail 
these  things  they  claim  to  do,  and  the  means  by 
which  one  of  them  here  recently  detected  a  thief 
shows  no  little  shrewdness  and  ingenuity.  The 
*'  doctor"  collected  all  the  tribe,  and  having  emptied 
a  hut  told  the  people  it  was  a  bewitched  place,  and 
the  chicken  which  he  placed  in  it  would  be  the  spirit 
of  their  fathers.  Having  taken  a  fowl  he  rubbed  it 
all  over  with  screase  and  then  smeared  it  with  red 
clay.  One  by  one  the  men  were  ordered  to  go  into 
the  hut  and  place  their  hands  upon  the  fowl,  when 
it  would  speak  and  accuse  the  man  who  stole  of 
being  the  thief.  Each  went  in,  and  being  conscious 
of  his  innocence  did  not  fear  to  handle  the  chicken 
with  confidence.  The  real  thief,  however,  fearing 
to  touch  it,  so  superstitious  was  he,  did  not  put  his 
hands  on  the  fowl.  When  all  had  been  into  the 
hut,  the  doctor  pretended  all  were  innocent,  and 
then  suddenly  called  upon  them  to  raise  their  hands 
and  cry  to  the  spirits.  Of  course  all  their  liands, 
save  those  of  the  thief,  had  some  remains  of  the  red 
clay  from  off  the  fowl ;  and  when  the  doctor  spied 
his  clean  hands  he  rushed  upon  him,  and  the  poor, 
frightened  fellow  confessed  his  guilt ;  while  all  the 
1* 


10  OmilSTlAN  WORK 

poo])le  more  than  ever  believed  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  wondrous  doctor. 

Thoiioh  some  few  of  them  have  become  Christians, 
these  doctors,  as  a  chiss,  are  hard  and  wicked,  and 
do  more  harm  than  can  be  imao-ined.  One  of  them 
not  long  since  destroyed  a  great  tribe  of  people. 
The  chief  had  a  plan  of  attacking  some  kraals  near 
by,  and  his  people  not  entering  into  it,  he  applied  to 
the  doctor  for  the  means  to  make  them  all  unite 
zealously  in  the  work  of  plunder  and  destruction. 
The  doctor  told  them,  without  revealing  his  object, 
that  the  spirits  ordered  them  to  slay  all  their  cattle 
and  plant  no  grain  that  year.  He  told  them  also 
that  the  spirits  said  they  would  raise  all  their  cattle 
to  life  again.  The  people  doubted  him  somewhat, 
so  in  order  to  assure  their  faith,  he  determined  to 
practise  a  deception  upon  them.  His  object  in  hav- 
ing them  destroy  their  cattle  and  their  fields  was  to 
make  them  hungry  and  desperate,  and  then  they 
would  be  ready  to  join  the  king  in  his  attack  and 
Avork  of  devastation  on  the  enemy. 

On  a  certain  day  be  called  them  all  to  assemble 
at  a  large  pond  of  water  and  reeds.  Taking  the 
heads  and  horns  of  many  cattle,  he  placed  them  on 
men's  shoulders  among  the  reeds.  He  then  found  a 
girl  who  was  a  ventriloquist,  and  having  hidden 
her,  he  muttered  and  burned  incense,  and  then  called 
out  for  the  spirits  to  speak.  The  girl  called  out,  "  I 
am  .the  mighty  spirits  of  the  dead,  I  rest  not,  and  at 
my  bidding  the  cattle  that  are  dead  shall  rise  again." 
IMany  more  things  she  said  while  the  doctor  mut- 
tered and  moaned  and  performed  rites  too  numerous 


m  ZULU  T^ND.  n 

to  mention,  and  at  last  the  voice  of  the  spirits  cried, 
"Come  forth,"  and  out  rose  from  the  water  and  the 
reeds  the  heads  and  horns  of  the  cattle,  and  moved 
in  various  directions. 

The  superstitious  people  were  at  once  convinced  ; 
they  slew  their  oxen  and  cows  by  thousands,  and 
when  the  time  was  past,  they  were  without  food. 
The  witch-doctor  was  among  the  first  to  perish,  for 
the  people,  instead  of  being  desperate,  were  too 
weak  to  move,  and  so  they  died  miserably.  A  few 
staggered  ofl;  hoping  to  reach  a  neighboring  tribe 
and  obtain  food,  so  the  road  was  strewn  with  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  as  they  fell  by  the  way.  A  few, 
the  chief  among  them,  reached  a  place  and  were 
fed  and  cared  for,  but  the  whole  tribe  of  the  Am- 
axosa  perished  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Some  of  the  natives  around,  to  whom  the  Gospel 
had  been  preached,  cry  out  that  God  sent  this  as  a 
judgment  upon  the  tribe,  because  they  had  driven 
out  and  even  killed  missionaries  who  had  been  sent 
to  them,  and  had  clung  to  their  wickedness  and 
heathenism  with  determination,  until  they  perished 
and  fell  by  the  way.  Truly  God  "  broke  them  in 
pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel." 

ZULUS  AS  CHRISTIANS. 

CONTRASTS. 

Formerly  the  Zulus  wore  no  clothing ;  now  they 
dress  well,  comfortably,  even  handsomely  when 
they  can  afford  it.     Formerly  they  lived  in  kraals^ 


12  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

or  huts  of  wicker-work,  like  a  large  bee-hive,  the 
door  so  small  they  were  obliged  to  creep  in  on  their 
bands  and  knees;  now  they  have  villages  and  settle- 
ments, comfortable  houses,  some  woven  and  plas- 
tered with  clay,  others  of  brick,  with  thatched  roofs, 
some  of  them  containing  several  rooms,  nicely  fin- 
ished and  furnished.  They  have  also  built  churches, 
and  one  recently  completed  at  Umvoti  is  of  brick, 
with  arched  windows  and  an  iron  roof,  for  which  the 
natives  have  paid  $1,750,  and  promised  a  sum  which 
will  make  their  whole  contribution  for  buildinjr  it 
$2,922.  Formerly  the  men  spent  their  time  in  hunt- 
ing or  fighting,  engaging  frequently  in  the  most 
bloody  and  destructive  wars,  while  their  women 
were  crushed  to  the  earth  with  the  burden  of  toil ; 
now  the  men  w^ork,  raising  sugar-cane,  corn,  etc., 
wdiile  they  ask,  "Are  there  no  missionaries  in  Amer- 
ica to  tell  them  not  to  fight  and  kill  each  other  ? 
Since  we  became  Christians,  w^e  have  thought  it 
wrong  to  fight  and  to  make  war." 

Churches  are  formed  at  the  difterent  stations, 
numbering  from  ten  to  one  hundred  members.  They 
are  examined  for  admission  in  the  usual  manner,  and 
then  at  the  last  church  meeting  before  the  commun- 
ion Sabbath,  the  names  are  read,  and  those  present 
are  asked  if  they  know  anything  against  them. 
There  is  no  hesitation,  but  if  any  one  knows  a  foult, 
be  it  ever  so  slight,  it  is  brought  out ;  so  that  those 
who  are  admitted  to  the  church  have  need  to  bo 
blameless,  if  not  perfect. 

Statements  as  to  one  station  will  serve,  with  some 
modification,  for  all 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  13 


SUNDAYS. 

It  is  a  most  interesting  sight  to  see  the  people 
coming  to  church  on  Sunday  morning,  tlie  women 
and  children  so  clean,  and  generally  dressed  in  bright 
colors ;  the  men  in  clean  clothes,  the  best  they  can 
procure.  Beside  the  "  station  people,"  the  heathen 
come  in  their  native  undress,  rings  on  their  heads 
and  spears  in  hand.  The  people  sing  sweetly 
many  of  our  tunes  to  native  words.  They  have  a 
prayer-meeting  at  sunrise,  conducted  entirely  by 
themselves,  and  a  large  Sunday-school.  Some  half- 
dozen  of  the  men  go  out  to  the  kraals  to  preach 
every  Sunday. 


MONTHLY    CONCERT. 

Last  week  was  monthly  concert  for  missions.  They 
sang  "  Greenland's  Icy  Mountains  "  in  Zulu,  prayed, 
and  at  the  end  each  one  brought  something  as  a 
monthly  offering.  It  was  most  touching  to  see  many 
women  and  children,  and  even  babies,  put  their  mites 
down  upon  the  pulpit.  Sometimes  a  poor  widow 
would  ask  change,  as  she  could  not  afford  to  give  all 
she  brought,  and  out  here  it  was  impossible  to  get 
change.  Altogether  they  gave,  last  Sunday,  six 
dollars,  and  this  is  their  average  contribution.  Be- 
side this  they  contribute  funds  to  support  one  oi 
two  native  teachers,  and  pay  a  school-teacher  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  month. 


14  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

WEEK    OF    PRATER. 

Last  week  was  the  week  of  prayer,  and  beside  the 
sunrise  prayer-meeting  which  they  always  have, 
there  was  a  daily  prayer-meeting  at  4  p.m.,  which 
was  full,  two  or  three  getting  up  to  speak  or  to  prp- 
at  a  time.  I  could  not  help  thinking  they  put  to 
shame  some  Christians  at  home.  Many  of  the  na- 
tives are  splendid  orators,  their  gestures  are  so  strik- 
ing, and  their  speeches  are  excellent. 

YEARLY   MEETING 1863. 

The  yearly  meeting  is  just  over.  The  Christian 
natives  own  wagons  and  oxen,  and  many  make  their 
money  by  carrying  loads;  so  they  have  the  means 
of  coming  quite  in  state.  The  evening  before  the 
meeting  there  was  great  cracking  of  whips  and  loud 
hallooing  in  every  direction.  They  had  meetings 
with  the  missionaries  and  alone,  crowds  of  them, 
and  such  splendid-looking  men.  The  chapel  w^as 
crowded  with  the  good  people,  and  they  had  up  for 
discussion  various  questions  as  to  the  laws  by  which 
they  are  governed,  the  selling  women  for  cattle,  and 
so  on.  They  gave  £72  for  two  home  missionaries, 
and  chose  the  place  to  send  them. 

Then  we  went  to  the  village  and  saw  the  people 
with  their  visitors,  rooms  with  white  curtains  trim- 
med with  red,  matting  on  the  floors,  sometimes 
sofas  and  rocking-chairs.  At  breakfast,  coffee  and 
bread  and  meat. 

Sunday   was  the  great  day;    the  crowd   greater 


m  ZULU  LAND.  15 

than  ever.  They  sang  most  sweetly,  "  Child  of  Sin 
and  Sorrow,"  "  Greenland,"  and  the  "  Year  of 
Jnbilee,"  and  had  commnnion  in  the  afternoon,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  together.  Some  of  them  walked  a 
hundred  miles  to  the  meeting,  enjoyed  it  vastly,  and 
returned  home,  and  then  we  all  subsided. 

1864. 

The  village  rang  this  morning  with  the  noise  of 
the  wagons,  whips  and  voices,  as  the  families  went 
away  to  the  yearly  meeting,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren. Some  took  their  neighbors,  who  were  too 
poor  to  hire  oxen  and  wagons,  or  whose  wagons 
were  needed  to  carry  sugar-cane  to  the  mill.  In  the 
afternoon,  those  men  who  go  alone  set  out  on  horse- 
back, all  in  high  glee,  and  some  went  on  foot.  Those 
who  are  detained  at  home  by  business  or  illness  in 
their  families,  meet  daily,morning  and  evening  for 
prayer,  to  unite  in  spirit,  at  least,  with  those  who 
have  gone. 

THE   MEETING. 

The  mission-house  is  in  the  centre,  with  the  native 
houses  on  small  hills  around,  some  of  them  nearly 
two  miles  off.  They  are  upright  houses,  some  of 
brick,  some  of  wattled  sticks  plastered  with  mud  or 
clay.  They  have  just  finished  a  chapel  of  the  same 
material,  holding  two  hundred  people,  which  is  in- 
tended for  a  school-house,  as  the  coming  year  they 
intend  to  build  a  good  chapel  of  brick,  to  be  boarded 
and  seated.     Timber  is  scarce  and  dear. 


16  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

There  were  six  missionaries  present.  It  was  a 
pretty  sight  to  see  the  ''  amakolwa "  (believers) 
arrive.  From  one  direction  were  seen  nine  wairons 
filled  with  people,  and  a  dozen  horsemen.  At  the 
same  time,  on  the  opposite  side,  appeared  four  wag- 
ons and  some  forty  horsemen.  The  whooping  cough 
prevailed  badly,  and  many  women  and  children 
w^ere  kept  at  home.  This  accounts  for  the  many 
horsemen. 

The  exercises  commenced  on  Wednesday  evening 
with  a  prayer  meeting,  and  one  was  also  held  each 
morning  at  sunrise.  Thursday  morning  one  of  the 
missionaries  preached  to  a  large  congregation ;  in 
the  afternoon  and  evening  there  were  prayer-meet- 
ings. Friday  morning,  the  most  able  man  among 
them,  Nimbula,  preached  to  them,  and  in  the  after- 
noon was  held  the  examination  of  the  two  native 
Christians  who  had  been  sent  out  to  preach  the  past 
year.  Their  names  were  Umbiyana  and  Benjamin. 
They  were  closely  questioned,  and  gave  good  evi- 
dence that  they  had  profited  by  their  teaching  in 
doctrine,  etc.,  and  also  that  they  had  been  taught 
by  the  Spirit.  They  then  received  a  license  to 
preach,  signed  by  all  the  missionaries.  It  was 
a  most  interesting  service.  ''  What  hath  God 
wrought  ?" 

In  the  evening  they  met  by  themselves  to  talk 
over  raising  the  money  to  support  these  two  men 
the  coming  year,  seventy-two  pounds  being  needed 
for  both.  Saturday  morning  we  all  met,  and  they 
were  to  hand  in  their  money ;  one  after  another 
came  forward,  till,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting,  sixty- 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  17 

eight  pounds  ten  shillings  had  been  put  upon  the 
table  in  gold  and  silver.  In  addition  to  this. twenty- 
one  pounds  were  subscribed  by  those  who  had  no 
money  with  them,  making  in  all  eighty-nine  pounds 
ten  shillings  (where  £72  were  needed). 

Saturday  afternoon  one  of  the  ladies  held  a  meet- 
ing with  the  women,  and  in  the  evening  all  the  un- 
converted were  gathered  together  in  one  house,  and 
the  love  of  Christ  was  set  before  them,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  all  the  "  believers  "  were  gathered  in  the 
chapel  praying  for  them.  Sabbath  morning  a  ser- 
mon on  the  love  of  Christ  was  preached  in  Zulu, 
and  in  the  afternoon  about  two  hundred  sat  down 
at  the  Lord's  Table.     On  Monday  we  separated. 


LIFE    AMONG   THE    ZULUS. 

RANDOM  EXTRACTS  FROM  LETTERS. 

"I  have  just  come  in  from  the  dining-room,  where 
was  an  old  woman  who  was  kissing  the  baby's  hand. 
She  was  in  the  Zulu  country  when  old  king  Chaka's 
mother  died,  and  a  number  of  people  had  to  be  killed 
to  satisfy  the  Amahlosi  (spirits).  She  and  her  hus- 
band and  children  were  among  the  victims.  She  ran 
away  with  her  children  just  after  her  husband  was 
taken,  but  all  three  of  them  died  of  starvation.  She 
says  she  died  too,  but  was  brought  to  life  again  to 
hear  the  Gospel.  At  any  rnte  she  survived  the  star- 
vation, and  w\as  found  and  aided,  and  brought  here. 
She  has  a  little  hut  near  the  Mission  Station,  and 
here  she  has  lived  for  many  years.     She  is  very  old, 


18  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

no  one  knows  how  old,  and  is  a  most  earnest  Chris-, 
tian. 

"  She  is  very  original  and  quaint  in  her  ideas.  The 
other  day  we  were  asking  her  if  the  women  w^ho  came 
fi-om  church  told  her  about  the  sermon.  'Oh,  no,' 
she  said,  '  Satan  threw  his  mantle  over  them,  that 
they  might  not  listen  to  God's  word.'  " 

Did  you  ever  before  think  of  sleep  in  church  as 
Satan's  mantle  thrown  over  the  eyes  ? 

"  Some  of  the  people  have  become  very  intelligent, 
and  are  employed  as  interpreters  and  translators. 
One  girl  whom  I  have  seen  has  just  translated  the 
'  Dairyman's  Daughter ;'  and  '  Pilgrim's  Progress '  is 
now  partly  finished.  The  natives  are  delighted  with 
the  last,  as  they  are  fond  of  allegory,  and  use  it  much 
in  their  own  speeches  and  conversation." 

The  rain-doctors  are  all  powerful,  very  bad  men, 
and  their  influence  is  one  great  drawback  to  success 
in  teaching  here.  They  array  themselves  peculiarly 
and  wear  their  hair  in  hundreds  of  little  ringlets,  so 
they  are  easily  distinguished.  They  pretend  to  bring 
rain,  to  cure  sickness,  to  find  stolon  property.  Their 
failure  to  bring  rain  destroyed  all  their  power  at  one 
of  the  stations,  and  was  a  death  blow  to  their  influ- 
ence. After  all  their  efforts  had  failed,  the  chief  said 
he  had  lost  all  fiiith  in  them,  and  he  sent  to  the  Mis- 
sionary to  ask  him  to  pray  for  rain,  and  that  very 
day  the  rain  came.  So  one  of  the  doctoi-s  finding  his 
occupation  gone,  goes  regularly  now  to  the  Mission 
church,  and  seems  to  have  given  up  his  pretensions. 

The  people  often  come  to  the  uiissionaries  to  pray 
for  rain,  and  because  they  wear  black  or  dark  clothes 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  19 

in  cool,  cloudy  weather,  and  black  coats  on  Sunday, 
the  poor,  ignorant  people  fancy  there  is  some  connec- 
tion between  their  prayers  on  Sunday  and  the  wished- 
for  rain.  * 

"  Some  of  the  men  are  very  intelligent.  I  found 
one  studying  Barnes's  Notes  on  the  Revelations,  for 
his  Sunday-school  class,  and  they  read  our  paj^ers, 
the  Observer  and  Independent^  and  others,  when  they 
can  get  them." 

Not  long  since  a  boy  came  to  Mr. ,  the  mis- 
sionary, and  said  he  wanted  to  live  with  him,  and 

work  for  him.     Mr. did  not  want  him,  but  as 

the  boy  was  so  importunate,  he  asked  him  why  he 
was  so  anxious  to  come.  "  Well,"  said  the  boy, 
"  my  mother  lived  on  the  hills  over  there,  in  the 
kraal,  and  she  used  to  come  to  your  church  on  Sun- 
days. When  she  was  sick  in  her  kraal,  she  called 
to  me  and  said,  '  Go,  when  I  am  dead,  and  live  with 
the  missionary ;  tell  him  to  teach  you  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian. I  know  very  little,  but  I  have  heard  him  tell 
of  Jesus,  and  I  am  going  to  heaven,  because  I  love 
Jesus  Christ.  Tell  the  missionary  he  sent  me  there 
by  his  teachings.'  So,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  have  come 
to  live  with  you  and  to  be  taught,  as  my  mother 
wished  me  to  do." 

There  is  much  just  now  to  encourage  us,  at  several 
of  the  stations  more  seriousness  and  earnest  prayer. 
At  one  place  a  chief  and  his  tribe  are  begging  to  be 
taught  and  are  praying :  and  here  a  chief  has  sent 
for  teachers,  and  some  of  the  Christian  men  are  going 
in  answer  to  the  call.  Though  we  have  no  revival, 
there  are  about  twenty  who  are  anxious  to  unite 


20  CnmSTIAN  WORK 

with  the  church,  and  this  waking  up  at  all  the  sta- 
tions makes  us  both  happy  and  anxious. 

There  have  been  some  peculiar  Providences.  One 
man  who  was  holding  out  against  his  conscience  lost 
his  child  very  suddenly,  and  another  who  was  really  an 
enemy  and  open  opposer  was  struck  dead,  though  the 
witch-doctor  had  told  the  lightning  not  to  touch  him. 

Chiefest  of  all,  Kalo  is  dead.  I  wrote  you  of  a 
woman  who  came  here  with  her  children  for  refuge, 
when  she  escaj^ed  from  her  husband's  murderers. 
Kalo  was  that  little  boy  whom  she  brought  on  her 
back.  He  had  become  a  very  prosperous  man,  with 
a  good  house,  horses,  cattle  and  twenty  acres  of  sugar 
cane.  He  w^as  a  prominent  man,  much  beloved  by 
the  people,  and  leaves  a  wife  and  three  children. 

Kalo  was  ill  about  a  week,  and  suffered  greatly, 
but  at  the  last  he  roused  himself  and-  said,  "  I  so 
greatly  rejoice  to  go  to  Jesus  in  heaven.  I  feel  I  am 
in  the  right  way.  Love  Him,  all  of  you.  Wife, 
cling  to  your  faith  ;  teach  the  children.  Keep  them 
as  Christians  shoidd  be.  Let  us  all  meet  in  heaven  ;" 
and  as  one  of  them  prayed,  he  died. 

They  dug  his  grave  in  the  grave-yard,  a  pretty 
hill-side,  and  about  noon  they  came  over  the  river. 
One  of  the  Amakolwa  (chief  men  among  the  Chris- 
tians) led  the  oxen  and  anotber  drove;  an  act  mark- 
ing great  respect,  as  such  work  is  always  left  to  boys. 
The  fourteen  oxen  were  all  black,  and  in  the  wagon 
were  his  wife,  sister,  children  and  mother,  the  poor 
old  woman  who  found  a  refuge  here  so  many  years 
ago.  The  "amakolwa"  and  station  people,  a  hun- 
djed  or  more,  followed,  all  the  men  w^ith  black  upon 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  21 

their  liats.  They  went  up  to  the  grave  and  a  more 
impressive  scene  I  never  witnessed.  In  the  absence 
of  the  Missi.onary  the  services  were  conducted  by 
TJntaba,  the  first  convert  at  that  station,  and  all  said 
as  they  looked  at  the  coffin,  "  We  cannot  feel  sad ; 
we  were  so  glad  of  his  Vv^ords,that  he  was  glad  to  go 
to  heaven."  All  these  things  are  having  a  great 
influence. 

According  to  Zulu  law,  which  the  English  have 
not  changed,  a  man's  property,  including  his  wife 
and  children,  must  all  go  to  his  relatives,  the  mother 
has  no  power  over  her  own  children.  So  Kalo's 
family  and  property  would  go  to  heathen  relatives 
away  ofi'in  the  kraals,  but  I  believe  in  some  way  this 
is  to  be  prevented.  Such  a  law  often  falls  with  cruel 
weight  upon  Christian  converts. 

One  of  our  little  scholars,  eight  years  old,  died  a 
few  days  ago,  but  I  think  she  was  ready  to  die.  Often 
you  will  see  these  little  children  praying  in  the  bush 
as  you  pass  along.  How  different  this  from  the 
heathen. 

THE  FIRST  CHRISTMAS. 

LETTER  TO  THE  ADVOCATE  AND  GUARDIAN. 

Natal,  South  Africa,  March,  1864. 
Mt  Dear  Mrs.  Bennett, — I  have  been  this  after 
noon  reading  the  Advocate^  which  is  sent  to  me  regu- 
larly here,  and  I  could  not  help  thinking,  in  the  midst 
of  your  records  in  the  city,  you  might  be  interested 
also,  to  hear  of  Industrial  Schools  and  visiting  among 
the  neglected  in  this  far-off  land. 


22  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

At  our  Station  here  jou  would  have  seen,  on  Christ- 
mas clay,  as  interesting  a  sight  as  any  room  in  New 
York  could  have  shown. 

First,  I  must  tell  you  that  when  the  heathen  peo- 
ple leave  their  *'  kraals,"  or  huts,  and  their  wild  life, 
they  build  nice  houses  and  wear  good  clothes,  as 
tlieir  circumstances  will  allow.  Some,  by  degrees, 
become  quite  civilized  and  rich,  others  just  live  by 
daily  toil  and  care. 

On  Christmas  day  we  determined  to  give  to  all  the 
children  of  the  Christian  natives  who  live  at  the  sta- 
tion, a  'tree  and  a  festival.  To  be  sure  there  were 
many  difficulties  to  contend  with — one  hundred  and 
thirty  children — no  nice  shop  to  go  to,  where  we 
could  buy  toys,  candies  and  cakes  by  the  quantity. 
The  children  and  parents  were  greatly  excited,  know- 
ing that  something  was  in  progress,  but  unable  even 
to  guess  what  it  might  be.  Then  there  was  no  suit- 
able tree  to  be  found  here,  till  after  long  search  a 
bush  was  found  that  would  answer  the  purpose,  with 
some  trimming  and  tying  of  branches.  Then  came 
the  getting  ready  of  little  pin-cushions,  and  white 
pieces  of  cloth  worked  to  represent  handkerchiefg; 
a  few  toys  were  given,  and  some  caps  made  for  boys. 
Thus  the  one  hundred  and  thirty  articles  were  col- 
lected, and  each  marked  for  the  boy  or  girl  who  was 
to  have  it.  Then  we  prepared  some  papers  with  a 
little  candy  in  them,  faint  imitations  of  the  mottoes 
in  Broadway  windows,  and  lastly,  each  child  was  to 
have  a  ginger-snap,  a  small  tray  of  which,  with  roses 
in  and  around  them,  made  quite  a  show. 

So  the  tree  was   hung,   with   an  American   flag 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  23 

twined  in  at  the  top,  the  bell  rung,  and  the  children 
and  parents  came  to  the  chapel ;  they  were  all  clean 
and  nicely  dressed  ;  the  young  people  sat  on  the 
front  seats,  and  the  parents  behind. 

When  the  tree  appeared,  you  should  have  heard 
their  exclamations.  I  could  not  translate  them,  nor 
give  you  an  idea,  for  the  Zulu  has  his  own  way  of 
expressing  surprise,  and  so  expressive  is  this,  that 
when  we  are  astonished,  it  is  easier  to  exclaim  in 
Zulu  than  in  English. 

Tn  their  school,  of  which  I  will  tell  you  soon,  they 
had  learned  some  of  our  songs,  a  translation  of  "  If 
you  don't  at  first  succeed,  Try,  try  again."  One  also 
of"  Happy  Land"— and  in  English,  "  Come,  tell  me 
how  the  bread  is  made,"  and  "  We  are  all  noddin', 
nid,  nid,  noddin',"  songs  which  I  have  often  heard 
from  the  children  at  the  Home. 

We  had  three  or  four  of  those  toy  snakes  which  so 
delight  boys  at  home,  and  we  had  expected  the  same 
of  the  large  boys  here,  whose  names  we  had  placed 
upon  them.  But  these  children  hate  and  fear  snakes 
above  all  things;  they  know  how  poisonous  they 
are,  how  they  abound,  and  how  many  die  from  their 
bites.  Judge  of  our  surprise  when,  as  they  espied 
the  toys  coiled  in  the  tree,  they  screamed,  even  the 
babies,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  persuade  them  that 
these  were  only  imitations  of  their  hated  inyoka. 

After  the  singing,  and  a  speech  to  them  in  Zulu, 
each  child's  name  was  called,  each  received  with  real 
joy  the  present,  cake  and  candy,  and  each  returned 
to  his  place.  I  am  sorry  to  say  at  all  the  festivals  in 
America,  I  always  saw  boys  and  girls  who  were  dis- 


24  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

contented  with  their  gifts,  but  with  us,  on  Christmas 
day,  every  little  black  flxce  looked  not  only  content- 
ed, but  delighted.  Presently  a  little  boy  held  out 
his  motto  and  said,  "  What  are  we  to  do  with  the 
books?"  When  they  found  there  was  something 
sweet  inside,  there  was  such  a  commotion  and  scram- 
bling !  Some  of  the  little  ones  tried  to  eat  paper  and 
all,  while  others,  having  eaten  the  candy,  tied  the 
papers  up  and  returned  them  to  us. 

After  singing  again,  home  they  went,  their  voices 
and  penny  whistles  sounding  over  the  hills,  and  we 
beard  the  latter  for  many  weeks  after.  The  parents 
stopped  to  thank  us,  and  to  say  it  was  the  nicest  and 
happiest  day  they  ever  enjoyed,  and  that  it  was  as 
much  a  treat  to  them  as  to  their  children.  Thus  there 
were  some  houses  in  Africa  that  had  their  "  Merry 
Christmas."  I  am  glad  Christmas  was  such  a  happy 
day  to  all  the  schools  in  New  York. 

Now  for  some  history  of  our  schools  here.  The 
children  vary  in  number  at  the  diiferent  Stations ;  in 
one  of  the  schools  there  is  a  mixture  of  Kaffirs,  Zulus, 
Hottentots  and  Bushmen,  with  an  occasional  child 
in  whose  veins  runs  some  Dutch  or  English  blood. 
The  school-hours  are  much  the  same  as  with  you,  the 
children  going  home  at  noon  to  eat  their  corn-por- 
ridge or  mush.  Of  course,  food  is  very  abundant  for 
them  here.  As  to  clothing,  the  children  in  the  kraals, 
or  native  villages,  go  quite  naked  until  they  are  about 
ten  years  old,  when  they  wear  a  simple  band  of  skin 
or  beads  about  the  waist.  When  they  come  into  the 
Stations  the  parents  clothe  them  as  well  as  their 
means  will  allow,  and  in  general,  we  manage  to  have 


m  ZULU  LAND.  25 

them  quite  neatly  dressed,  by  giving  them  a  dress 
or  shirt,  in  exchange  for  chickens,  corn,  potatoes, 
pumpkins,  etc.,  of  which  they  raise  an  abundance. 

At  nine  the  children  come  in  as  the  bell  calls  them, 
each  makes  a  bow  and  says,  "  Saka  bona,"  and  takes 
his  seat.  They  then  sing,  for  they  know  many  songs 
in  both  Zulu  a?nd  English,  then  they  repeat  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  their  lessons  begin. 

I  wish  the  good  people  in  America,  who  think  Afri- 
cans below  white  people  in  talent  and  quickness, 
would  just  take  a  Zulu  school.  Of  course  there  are 
stupid  ones,  but  in  the  experience  I  have  had,  as  a 
whole,  they  are  much  quicker  in  learning  than  most 
white  children.  Those  who  have  been  regularly  in 
school,  can  all  read  Zulu,  down  to  children  five  years 
old ;  and  most  of  those  over  ten  can  read  English 
also.  All  can  write,  better  or  worse,  some  of  them 
very  well.  They  can  repeat  the  whole  multiplication 
table,  and  do  a  sum  in  fractions  or  reduction  as  fast 
as  their  pencils  can  fly.  They  are  taught  marching, 
clapping  hands,  etc.,  and  the  discipline,  as  far  as 
possible,  is  the  same  as  in. our  public  schools  at 
home ;  they  also  study  geography  and  Bible  lessons. 
There  are  many  of  them  who  will  repeat  a  hymn  or 
psalm  w^ithout  a  mistake,  after  hearing  it  once  read, 
and  they  will  even  learn  in  that  way  a  song  in  Eng- 
lish, although  they  do  not  understand  the  words. 
The  other  day  I  saw  a  girl  about  ten  years  old,  take 
the  book  and  learn  the  first  seven  Psalms  in  less 
than  half  an  hour,  repeating  the  w^iole  without  any 
prompting,  as  fast  as  she  could  speak.  You  can  see 
then,  that  the  difficulty  in  our  Industrial  Schools 
2 


26  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

does  not  consist  in  the  children  being  "  poor  stupid 
thini^s,"  as  mnny  suppose. 

They  lead  naturally  such  a  wild  life,  that  anything 
like  system  is  very  hard  to  submit  to.  They  do  not 
sing  in  their  wild  homes,  and  their  first  attempts  at 
singing  make  you  ready  to  stop  your  ears  and  flee ; 
but  when  they  do  learn,  they  sing  well,  and  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  night  you  hear  theii*  voices 
ringing  out,  here  and  thei-e,  until  even  the  babies 
call  out  as  you  pass  their  houses,  and  by  some  imagi- 
nation you  can  fancy  they  are  trying  to  sing  the 
sonsfs  their  older  brothers  and  sisters  have  brouo^ht 
from  school. 

When  I  taught  them  the  first  songs  with  motions 
of  the  hands,  songs  which  quiet  many  a  restless  little 
class  at  home,  they  were  astonished  beyond  measure, 
looked,  rolled  their  eyes,  and  finally  a  little  boy 
turned  to  his  next  neighbor  and  exclaimed,  "  I  won- 
der if  the  teacher  thinks  that  we  are  deers,  that  we 
should  do  this !" 

So  you  can  look  in  and  see  us  in  imagination  at 
the  daily  school,  Saturday  singing-school,  and  Sun- 
day-school, and  feel  glad  that  these  teachings  have 
gotten  a  foot-hold  in  Africa.  As  a  rule,  the  girls 
come  to  the  school  clean^  and  the  work  is  not  assisted  (!) 
by  finding  the  hands  well  covered  with  taffy  or  mo- 
lasses candy,  as  I  used  to  find  in  New  York.  I  am 
glad  there  are  no  candy  stalls  to  take  the  Sunday 
pennies,  and  produce  the  sick  feelings  and  sticky 
hands,  with  the  temptation  to  deny  the  candy  when 
the  unmistakable  odor  proclaims  it.  We  all  know 
how  that  is. 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  27 

TWO  AFTERNOO?^  WALKS  1^  ZULU  LAND. 

TROTH  THE  MISSIOKART  HERALD. 

HEATHEN   KEAALS. 

I  should  like  to  tell  you  of  two  afternoon  walks, 
to  show  you  a  few  of  the  effects  of  Christianity  in 
this  land.  Imagine  a  heathen  kraal,  composed  of  a 
circular  inclosure  for  the  cattle,  with  twenty  low 
huts  around  it,  having  holes  through  which  to  crawl 
into  them  on  hands  and  knees.  Here  we  made  our 
first  afternoon's  visit.  This  kraal  is  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  chapel  and  our  house.  As  we  came 
near,  we  were  greeted  by  numerous  Zulu  curs,  the 
meanest  of  all  mean  animals.  A  small  boy  peered 
out,  and  seeing  the  missionaries,  out  of  respect  to 
us,  he  immediately  began  knocking  the  dogs  with 
sticks,  thereby  much  increasing  the  noise,  of  course. 
We  made  our  way  into  the  kraal.  The  father,  an 
old  gray-headed  man,  with  a  shaven  head,  and  the 
usual  black  ring  on  the  top  of  it,  was  squatted 
against  the  hut,  doing  nothing.  His  old  wives  were 
around  a  fire  inside,  on  which  was  a  pot,  filling  the 
hut  with  an  odor  anything  but  pleasant.  The  con- 
tents of  this  pot  one  of  the  wives  was  stirring  with 
a  stick.  When  the  food  is  sufiiciently  cooked,  each 
will  seize  a  stick,  thrust  it  into  the  pot,  and  then 
lick  off  what  has  adhered  to  it,  until  the  pot  is 
empty.  To  the  left,  the  men,  from  twenty  to  forty 
years  of  age,  were  sitting  and  standing.  Some  were 
drinking  beer,  some  smoking,  and  some  whittling 
pieces  of  wood. 


28  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

As  "we  entered  the  kraal,  some  twenty  children  of 
various  aires,  small  ones  on  the  backs  of  the  laro-er 
ones,  and  all  in  want  of  clothing  (in  fact  they  have 
nothing  on),  came  forward  staring  and  wondering. 
Then  up  the  hill  came  the  women  of  the  kraal,  with 
babies  tied  on  their  backs  by  goat-skins,  and  hoes 
over  their  shoulders,  talking  as  if  they  were  trying 
to  see  which  could  speak  the  loudest.  Indeed,  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  kj'aal  were  talking  in  their 
usual  loud  pitch  of  voice,  of  which  you  can  form  no 
idea.  As  soon  as  we  could  make  ourselves  heard, 
we  began  talking  to  the  men,  inquiring  about  the 
health  of  the  people,  their  crops  and  cattle.  Some 
were  too  tipsy  to  reply,  but  some  spoke  very  well, 
and  showed  the  respect  wdiich  is  universally  felt  for 
the  wives  of  missionaries,  as  well  as  for  the  mission- 
aries themselves. 

As  I  walked  away,  I  said  to  the  old  man,  "  Do 
any  of  the  children  read  ?"  "  Oh,  no !"  was  his 
answer,  "books  .are  bewitched,  and  we  want  our 
children  to  let  them  alone."  "  But  don't  you  see 
how  happy  aud  comfortable  the  people  and  children 
are  who  have  books  and  read?"  "Yes,  they  are 
well  off,  truly,  but  we  want  our  children  to  let  them 
alone." 

Just  then  came  the  cry,  "  A  snake  !"  and  a  poison- 
ous serpent  glided  into  the  kraal.  We  jumped  aside 
and  cried,  "  Kill  it !"  "  Oh,  no  !"  said  the  old  man, 
"  It  is  the  spirit  of  my  father,  we  can't  kill  it.  The 
spirit  is  angry,  we  must  kill  an  ox  for  it."  "And 
pray  what  do  you  do  with  the  ox?"  '^  Oh,  we  put 
a  part  of  it  in  a  hut,  and  the  spirit  goes  at  night  and 


IJ!^  ZULU  LAND.  29 

eats  all  it  wants  and  we  eat  the  rest ;"  which  "  rest " 
is  the  whole  animal,  of  course.  We  noticed  among 
the  women  a  young,  bright  looking  girl,  whose 
freshly  reddened  top-hnot^  and  bright  brass  buttons 
on  the  goat-skin  hanging  down  in  front,  which 
forms  the  distingni'shing  part  of  a  bride's  dress, 
showed  her  to  be  a  bride. 

The  chief  man,  or  father,  invited  us  to  enter  a  hut 
and  eat  some  sour  curds,  but  as  we  looked  in  and 
saw  calves  there,  we  told  hira  we  preferred  to  remain 
outside.  The  hut  was  filled  with  smoke,  as  there 
was  no  chimney,  and  the  outer  air  was  far  more  pleas- 
ant. These  kraals  and  huts  are  full  of  cockroaches,  to 
say  nothing  of  many  other  disagreeable  insects.  The 
sour-milk  pot,  when  the  people  have  eaten,  is  hung 
on  a  peg  in  the  hut,  and  in  a  few  minutes  myriads 
of  roaches  are  in  it.  If  you  should  say  to  tlie 
man,  "  Do  look  !  See  these  creatures  !"  his  reply 
would  be,  "  The  poor  little  things  are  hungry,  let 
them  eat."  When  he  next  wishes  for  food,  he  will 
take  the  pot,  and  without  washing  it,  will  shake  the 
creatures  off,  fill  it  and  eat.  This  is  a  very  little 
thing,  for  the  dirt  and  practices  of  these  kraals  may 
not  be  told.  If  they  might,  there  would  be  many 
a  word  of  astonishment  from  you  all.  Nothing  is 
too  dirty  for  the  people  to  handle,  and  if  their  hands 
feel  dirty,  rubbing  them  togetlier,  or  rubbing  them 
on  their  bodies  or  heads,  is  all-sufficient  to  cleanse 
them.  And  the  filth  of  their  conversation,  of  their 
morals  and  souls,  is  worse  than  that  of  their  bodies. 

Yet,  with  all  this,  there  is  a  shrewdness  and 
smartness  very  attractive — nothing  slow  or  stupid. 


30  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

Their  brown  faces  shine  with  smiles  and  intelligence, 
and  their  mouths  are  full  of  words  of  wit,  and,  I 
was  about  to  say,  of  wisdom.  It  certainly  is  one 
kind  of  wisdom.  I  suj^pose  the  friends  will  not  feel 
hurt  if  I  say,  that  many  a  Zulu  is  the  image  of  some 
American  friend,  save  his  black  skin.  Many  times  a 
month  a  stranger  will  appear,  and  one  of  us  will  cry 
out,  "  Who  is  it  he  looks  so  much  like  ?"     Then, 

after  a  little  thinking,  "  Oh,  yes !  it  is  Mr. ,  of 

Boston,  or  Mrs. ,  of  New  York."    A  learned  man 

has  lately  been  here,  making  examinations  of  the 
heads  of  Zulus  and  of  Coolies  from  India.  In  each 
case  he  found  the  Zulu  skull  contained  the  most  brains. 

HOMES    OF    CHRISTIANIZED   ZULUS. 

On  the  second  afternoon  we  visited  the  homes  of 
the  Christian  Zulus,  which  lie  in  all  directions  about 
us.  The  first  thing  we  saw  was  a  pretty,  white 
cottage.  Orange  trees  were  planted  in  rows  be- 
side it;  and  on  the  well-swept  verandah  stood  the 
owner,  a  fine,  tall  man,  in  straw  hat,  blue  shirt  and 
black  trowsers,  just  returned  from  his  fields.  He 
said,  "  Good  afternoon,"  inviting  us  in ;  but  as  his 
w^ife  was  away  we  did  not  enter. 

To  the  right,  among  the  trees  stood  another  house. 
On  entering  the  dining-room,  we  found  the  mother 
in  a  calico  dress  and  red  turban,  sewing,  with  her 
baby  beside  her.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  was  a 
table,  and  by  it  sat  a  girl  sewing  and  a  boy  study- 
iuGf  his  book.  Two  little  children  were  runnini; 
about  the  room.     One  of  them  came  to  my  side  and 


m  ZULU  LAND.  81 

repeated  the  lesson  lie  had  learned  that  day  in 
school,  Sf^eming  very  proud  that  he  had  remembered 
it.  The  room  contained  chairs,  book-shelves  with 
books,  a  sort  of  cupboard  with  cups  and  saucers,  etc. 
In  the  bed-room  I  saw  a  bedstead,  the  bed  was 
covered  with  a  patch-work  quilt,  and  had  pillows 
and  blankets.  All  this,  together  with  the  well- 
dressed  children,  gave  the  house  an  air  of  com^foit. 
The  man  and  woman  are  both  earnest  and  zealous 
Christians. 

A  little  beyond  this  we  came  to  a  brown  cottage. 
In  front  of  it  a  girl,  about  eight  years  of  age,  was 
teaching  the  baby  to  walk.  In  the  parlor,  on  a  sort 
of  sofa,  sat  a  girl,  of  perhaps  nineteen,  cutting  and 
makinfy  a  dress.  The  father  was  readins:  aloud, 
while  his  wife,  fresh  and  pretty,  was  sitting  near  at 
work.  The  little  children  were  playing  with  a  rag 
doll — a  very  good  article,  made  by  the  mother.  The 
mother  reported  that  "  Jeremiah,"  a  small  boy  of 
three  summers,  was  trying  hard  to  sing  the  song  he 
heard  me  sing  in  school  on  Saturday.  By  the  way, 
this  mother  is  a  genius  in  cutting  and  fitting,  and 
making  pretty  things,  and  the  young  people  resort 
to  her  to  be  taught  this  art. 

Beyond,  we  came  to  a  red  brick  house,  a  flower 
garden  in  front,  curtained  windows  and  matted  floor. 
In  the  parlor  stood  a  table,  with  ink,  pens,  paper, 
books,  etc.,  on  it,  and  a  clock  ticked  away  merrily 
on  the  shelf.  The  table  was  set  for  tea  in  the  back 
room,  with  cloth,  plates,  cups  and  saucers,  spoons 
and  forks,  bread,  butter  and  sugar,  while  hot  coflee 
was  ready,  of  which  the  cup  we  drank  was  very 


32  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

acceptable.  This  mother  is  a  most  excellent  and 
AvcU  taught  house-keeper,  and  the  whole  family  are 
always  dressed  neatly  and  prettily.  I  asked  the 
father  what  he  did  evenings.  "  Oh,"  he  said,  "  we 
light  the  candle,  my  wife  sews,  and  I  teach  the  chil- 
dren their  lessons  for  school  the  next  day.  When 
that  is  done,  we  pray,  sing  a  hymn,  I  read  a  chapter, 
and  we  go  to  bed."  This  man's  family  includes,  be- 
sides his  own  children,  some  brothers,  cousins  and 
friends,  young  men  and  girls,  who  have  broken 
away  from  heathenism  and  their  kraals,  clothed 
themselves,  and  now  are  civilized,  and  many  of  them 
Christians,  members  of  the  church  here.  The  little 
two-year-old  ling  held  up  her  foot  as  we  came  out, 
with  the  remark,  so  common  in  childhood  at  home, 
"See,  I've  got  new  shoes." 

Just  as  we  passed  out,  two  old  women  went  by, 
with  a  greeting  to  us.  They  left  heathenism  when 
already  old.  Though  ignorant,  they  are  sincere 
followers  of  Christ.  Many  a  poor  old  woman,  cast 
off  by  her  heathen  husband,  first  learns  here  the 
sweet  story  of  old,  and  "believes;"  though,  per- 
haps with  too  little  eyesight  to  learn  to  read  for  her- 
self. But  her  grand-children  will  get  the  book  of 
God  and  read  to  her,  while  she  listens  and  wonders. 

As  we  came  toward  the  next  house,  the  other  side 
of  the  orange  trees,  we  heard  a  scream,  and  sudtlenly 
a  dozen  boys,  of  about  ten  years  old,  dashed  out 
from  behind  and  ran  towards  the  river.  Their  blue 
and  white  shirts  and  caps  showed  plainly  that  they 
were  the  children  of  civilized  parents.  The  head 
one  struck  up,  "  Pleasant  is  the  Sabbath  bell ;"  to 


m  ZULU  LAND.  33 

which  the  others  added,  "  In  the  light  of  God ;" 
showing  that  they  were  the  children  also  of  Christian 
parents. 

Had  we  been  a  little  earlier,  we  should  l^ive  met 
these  and  many  other  boys  and  girls,  with  bags  of 
books  on  their  shoulders,  going  home  from  school  to 
the  white  houses,  dotted  here  and  there,  all  over 
the  hills.  These  boys  were  going  for  their  afternoon 
bath — for  they  have  to  give  an  account  in  school 
daily  as  to  their  washing.  A  dirty  pair  of  hands  is 
a  disgrace  not  to  be  thought  of. 

These  mothers  and  fathers  were  once  such  as  we 
saw  in  the  afternoon  visit  to  the  kraal.  Various 
influences,  through  God's  ordering,  brought  them 
to  the  missionary  families,  where  they  were  trained 
and  taught.  Their  children  and  children's  children 
will  tell  of  the  wonders  of  God's  dealings.  We 
should  like  to  take  with  us,  for  one  of  these  after- 
noon walks,  some  of  those  who  say,  "  What  is  the 
use  of  missions?"  "What  can  be  done  for  such 
creatures  as  these  black  people  ?"  If  they  were  not 
convinced  and  their  questions  answered  by  what 
they  would  see,  we  should  have  to  conclude  they 
were  more  deficient  in  mind  than  the  black  people 
whom  they  profess  to  despise. 


2* 


84  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

THE    TWO    DEATH-BEDS. 


FROM  THE  CONGREGATIONALIST. 


Come  with  me  near  to  that  kraal.  Within  the  hut 
to  the  left,  on  the  ground  lies  a  woman.  The  face  is 
turned  to  the  floor,  and  with  a  blanket  about  her  she 
lies  in  silence.  About  her  are  a  crowd  of  nearly  na- 
ked women  talkino;  and  lauo-hins;,  and  makius;  noises 
which  would  seem  sufiicient  to  kill  a  well  person. 
If  you  approach  the  sick  woman  and  speak  to  her, 
she  makes  no  reply.  She  knows  she  is  going  to  die, 
but  all  is  dark,  and  the  heathen  custom  is  to  turn  the 
face  away  and  not  speak  a  word,  and  so  in  silence 
and  horror  to  close  the  eyes  in  death. 

Comforts  there  are  none,  food  there  is  none.  All 
you  see  is  the  dark  hut,  the  noisy  women,  and  the 
speechless  form  of  the  dying  woman.  After  your 
vain  attempts  to  speak  with  her,  you  sit  down.  She 
dies.  Then  your  ears  are  assailed  Avith  wails  and 
cries,  for  all  those  noisy  women  hasten  without  the 
hut,  and  each  seems  to  vie  with  the  other  in  making 
a  howling  noise  which  sounds  far  off  over  the  hills. 

The  body  is  left  alone  in  the  hut.  The  men,  her 
nearest  relatives,  dig  a  hole  outside  the  kraal,  hurry 
in.  seize  the  body,  and,  head  first  or  feet  first,  thrust 
it  in.  The  hole  is  filled,  the  hut  and  clothes  where 
she  died  burned  up,  and  the  name  and  face  of  that 
woman  have  passed  from  earth  never  to  be  mentioned 
or  thought  of  again. 

Thus  does  the  heathen  die ;  I  have  seen  it ;  and 
oh !  the  horror,  the  darkness,  no  words  can  tell. 


JN  ZULU  LAND.  85 

Up  in  that  white  cottage  on  the  hillside,  where 
that  young  man  and  his  young  wife  live  so  happily, 
death  is  cominof,  coming^  there ! 

In  the  little  room,  ou  the  bed,  propped  up  with 
pillows,  lies  that  wife.  Beside  her  are  some  of  the 
station  women  with  sad  hut  quiet  faces.  One  is 
holding  her  hand  and  talking  with  her  of  Heaven 
and  her  Saviour,  Listen !  The  sick  woman  opens 
her  eyes  and  speaks. 

"  I  know  I  am  dying,  but  why  should  I  fear  to  ^o 
home  ?  I  love  my  Saviour,  I  love  my  God,  I  have 
no  fear,  all  is  so  bright."  One  of  the  women  looking 
so  sad,  yet  so  peaceful,  comes  to  the  bedside,  and 
kneeling  there  says,  "Let  us  pray."  As  they  all 
kneel,  she  asks  God's  presence  there,  his  light  in  the 
dark  valley,  his  heaven  for  the  departing  one;  and 
as  they  rise,  the  dying  woman  murmurs,  "  Jesus,  my 
Saviour,"  and  she  has  gone  from  Africa's  dark  land 
to  the  land  where  there  is  no  darkness  nor  gloom. 
They  dress  her  in  white,  and  as  she  lies  in  her  coffin 
her  face  says,  "  Peace,  peace."  The  coffin  is  carried, 
followed  by  many  to  the  grave-yard. 
^  A  hymn,  a  prayer,  a  few  words,  and  her  body  too 
is  gone  from  sight ;  but  her  name  is  on  our  lips,  her 
life  and  death  are  to  be  in  our  hearts  and  on  our 
tongues.  Her  husband  is  alone,  but  no  superstition 
and  darkness  are  there;  he  says  God  took  her,  and 
he  cannot  mourn  or  complain. 

"  How  could  I  mourn  when  she  spoke  such  words  ? 
when  1  know  she  is  with  Christ?  Had  she  died  in 
darkness,  I  could  weep  and  complain,  but  to  die  in 
Christ,  is  to  live." 


36  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

I  would  that  those  in  America  who  say  a  mission- 
ary's life  is  vain,  his  work  for  naught,  could  witness 
these  two  scenes  on  the  liillside  in  this  African  land. 
I  would  that  the  wide  ocean  did  not  prevent  them 
from  such  a  view.  Full  well  do  I  believe  each  un- 
believing one,  with  upraised  hands,  would  return  to 
his  Christian  land  and  home,  and  if  others  said  the 
work  in  Africa  was  vain,  would  cry  out,  "  No,  not  in 
vain,  for  I  have  seen,  yes,  I  have  seen  !" 


TISIT    TO    A   KRAAL, 

yKOM  THE  BOSTON  RECORDER. 

Umvoti,  South  Africa,  May  27, 1865. 

Many  a  time,  when  I  lived  in  my  dear  American 
home,  have  I  heard  business  men  say,  when  talking 
of  their  cares  and  daily  life,  "  They  separate  us  from 
God ;"  and  many  housekeepers  and  mothers  said,  "  It 
is  hard  for  us  to  keep  near  God  amidst  our  cares  ;" 
and  invalids,  with  pain  and  suffering  for  their  earthly 
l^ortion,  said,  "  These  draw  us  from  God."  We,  too, 
in  our  missionary  life,  find  much  to  make  us  say, 
"  How  can  we  keep  very  near  our  God  ?" 

Not  many  weeks  ago  a  young  man,  lately  from  a 
heathen  kraal,  came  to  see  me,  and  expressed  a  very 
strong  desire  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  Ilis  face 
and  manner  were  so  interesting,  that  I  inquired 
where  his  home  and  parents  were.  He  said  he  lived 
with  some  of  the  Christian  Zulus  on  the  station,  but 
his  father,  with  his  wives  and  children,  lived  in  a 
kraal  a  mile  or  more  distant.     He  spoke  also  of  a 


m  ZULU  LAND.  37 

brother,  about  bis  own  age,  who  was  ill  and  unable 
to  move.  As  I  became  more  interested  in  the  vounsr 
man,  I  wished  much  to  see  his  brother  v/ho  was  ill, 
thinking  if  nothing  could  be  done  for  his  health,  per- 
haps he  might  learn,  and  find  pleasure  in  books. 
The  heathen  natives  are  generally  fearful  that  books 
will  bewitch  them,  and  I  knew  he  was  but  a  heathen. 
Putting  a  "Tract  Primer"  in  my  pocket  one  after- 
ternoon,  I  got  on  my  horse  to  go  to  Mali's  home,  for 
such  I  learned  was  the  invalid's  name.  The  way  was 
long,  and  through  high  African  grass,  with  no  good 
road,  so  I  was  glad  of  the  horse's  help  in  reaching 
there.  But  at  the  kraal  entrance  the  father,  a  tall, 
fine-looking  man,  met  me,  and  to  my  request  that  he 
would  hold  the  horse  for  a  few  moments,  replied  he 
was  afraid  the  horse  would  bite  him ;  and  nothinof 
would  induce  him  to  touch  it.  These  Zulu  "kraals" 
are  composed  of  a  circle  of  huts,  looking  like  bee- 
hives, with  an  entrance  to  each  at  the  side  about  two 
feet  high. 

Threading  my  way  along,  and  leading  the  horse,  I 
entered  the  enclosure.  On  the  ground  outside,  by 
one  of  the  huts,  was  seated  the  young  man  whom  I 
had  come  to  seek.  His  face  and  expression  told  of 
intelligence  and  a  kind  heart,  but  his  words  soon 
made  me  know  that  his  body  below  the  waist  was 
useless,  and  he  had  no  power  to  move,  except  his 
hands,  arms  and  head.  He  seemed,  though  a  mere 
heathen,  to  rejoice  at  the  idea  of  learning  to  read, 
and  I  determined  to  give  him  his  first  lesson  then 
and  there.  As  there  was  no  stick  or  stone  on  which 
to  sit,  I  was  obliged  to  use  the  ground  for  a  seat, 


.38  cnRlSTIAN  WORK 

which  was  not  very  easy  to  do,  and  hold  a  restless 
horse.  But  Mali  began  his  lesson  with  such  zeal,  I 
soon  forgot  all  else  in  wondering  at  the  rapid  way 
he  learned  the  alphabet  that  short  halt-hour.  On 
leaving,  I  gave  him  the  book,  and  charged  him  to 
study  well  and  much. 

A  few  days  after,  I  started  on  foot,  and  after  rather 
a  liard  walk  through  grass  and  over  brooks,  Avas 
nearing  the  kraal,  when  in  a  narrow  path  I  met  two 
men  driving  a  cow.  Cattle  are  above  price  to  a 
Zulu,  and  no  sacrifice  is  too  great  to  make  for  them. 
These  men,  therefore,  had  given  the  path  to  the  cow, 
and  were  walking  through  the  grass  and  bushes.  I 
kept  in  the  path,  however,  until  when  close  to  the 
cow's  head  one  of  the  men  drove  it  out  of  the  way. 
At  the  same  time,  looking  at  me  very  indignantly,  he 
remarked,  "  Don't  you  know  enough  yet  to  get  out  of 
the  way  and  leave  the  path  to  a  cowV"  Certanly  the 
rales  in  America  and  Zulu-land  are  different  as  to  the 
politeness  which  is  due  to  cattle  from  people ! 

On  reaching  the  kraal  I  found  Mali  all  delight  at 
seeing  me,  and  his  flither  said  he  had  been  made 
happy  by  the  first  visit.  He  had  not  only  remem- 
bered all  the  letters  perfectly,  but  had  spelled  out 
words  and  read  in  the  book.  And  so  it  was  that  in 
a  short  time,  with  no  help  but  such  as  my  occasional 
visits  afforded,  he  learned  to  read.  His  delight,  as 
one  new  idea  after  another  opened  on  his  mind,  was 
pleasant  to  see.  He  had  heard  but  little  of  Christ, 
and  everything  he  could  read  of  his  love  for  man 
seemed  to  touch  him  deeply.  It  was,  then,  hardly  a 
surprise,  yet  a  joy,  when  he  one  day  said  to  me,  "  1 


m  ZULU  LAND.  39 

pray  to  my  Father  in  heaven  now  very  ranch.  I  love 
my  Saviour  who  died  for  me.    I  hope  I  am  his  child." 

lie  told  of  the  joy  he  found  in  loving  Christ,  of  the 
lonely  and  unhappy  days  he  had  formerly  had  in  the 
thoughts  of  his  hopeless  illness,  and  no  bright  spot  to 
cheer  those  days.  He  contrasted  with  this  his  pres- 
ent delight  in  reading,  the  hours  he  spent  in  singing 
hymns  from  the  little  hymn-book,  and  the  ever-con- 
tinuing joy  of  learning,  and  above  all,  spoke  of  the 
constant  nearness  of  Christ. 

I  looked  around  as  he  was  speaking.  There  were 
the  enclosure,  the  bare  ground,  the  four  low  huts, 
with  the  holes  to  enter  them,  and  within  only  dark- 
ness and  cold,  or  a  fire  and  smoke.  The  father  and 
his  wives  and  children  were  unclothed.  Furniture  and 
comforts  of  any  kind  were  not  to  be  seen.  The  day 
long,  dogs  barked,  children  cried,  men  scolded  and 
quarreled,  women  talked  at  the  highest  pitch  of  their 
voices.  Of  what  was  good  he  heard  nothing ;  and 
yet  as  he  sat  in  such  a  place,  unable  to  move,  in 
bodily  pain  and  weakness,  and  his  two  books  only 
to  cheer  him  on  in  what  was  good,  he  did  not  say, 
"  It  is  hard  to  keep  near  to  God."  And  so  the  days 
and  weeks  pass  away,  and  many  a  lesson  can  he  teach 
of  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  even  among  the  sur- 
roundings which  would  seem  to  separate  him  from 
his  God.  His  brother  is  also  a  Christian  now,  and 
when  he  meets  the  brother  who  is  ill*,  they  pray  to- 

*  This  boy  lias  recovered.  As  tlie  application  of  electricity 
was  impossible,  they  tried  washing  with  soap  and  water,  with 
dry  rubbing  and  rough  friction,  and  he  regained  the  use  of  hia 
limbs. 


40  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

gether  for  their  parents  and  friends  who  have  none 
of  the  joy  and  peace  they  have  found. 

Their  father  now  mourns  because  his  sons  have  left 
their  heathen  home  and  ways ;  yet  he  does  not  evince 
the  violent  opposition  which  some  parents  show.  In 
a  kraal  near  to  us,  one  of  the  sons  left  his  paren.^^ 
and  came  on  to  the  station.  His  friends  caught  him, 
as  he  was  passing  their  home  one  day,  took  off  his 
clothes  and  burned  them,  obliging  tlie  young  man  to 
stay  with  them  by  force,  and  making  him  drink  their 
native  beer  to  intoxication.  He  at  length  succeeded 
in  running  from  them  and  returning  to  the  station. 
They  made  one  other  attempt  to  take  him,  and  then 
decided  to  let  him  stay  and  be  a  Christian  if  he  chose. 
He  very  eagerly  began  to  learn,  and  made  great  pro- 
gress. At  the  time  when  some  of  his  young  friends 
were  professing  their  faith  in  Christ,  he  decided  to 
unite  with  them.  And  now  he  and  many  more  such 
young  men,  who  left  their  kraals  amid  persecution 
and  unkiud  treatment,  are  joining  together  to  pray 
for  their  parents  and  brothers  and  sisters,  and  do  all 
in  their  power  to  lead  them  to  Christ.  The  parents 
often  at  last  say,  "  It  is  good  that  our  children  be- 
lieve ;  but  we  are  too  old."  Though  we  are  saddened 
by  their  refusal  to  hear  with  the  heart,  we  rejoice  to 
see  their  sons  and  daughters,  one  after  another,  com- 
ing, as  they  express  it,  "out  of  the  darkness  into  the 
shining-  lisjht." 

Nor  do  they  think,  among  all  their  persecutions 
and  temptations,  that  it  is  hard  in  this  heathen  land 
to  keep  near  God.  Perhaps  they  may  teach  us  all  a 
lesson  in  this  thing  ! 


m  ZULU  LAND.  41 

ZULU    CHRISTIANS. 


PEOM  THE  BOSTON  BECOEDER. 


It  seoms  as  if  most  of  our  good  friends  in  America 
thought  that  a  Znhi  might  be  on  one  day  running 
wild  over  the  hills,  heathen  and  heathenish,  and  the 
next  day  become  a  Christian  suddenly,  and  change 
in  every  respect.     I  doubt,  however,  in  all  the  his- 
tory of  this  mission,  if  such  a  case  were  ever  known. 
It  is  slow  and  gradual,  this  change,  and  sometimes 
it  is  long  before  the  bright,  yet  ever-hoped-for  end 
appears.      The  stations  are  increased  from  year  to 
year  by  the  coming  of  young  people  from  the  kraals. 
Some  come  for  a  home  among  friends,  some  come 
for  work  and  pay,  and  many  young  girls  run  for  pro- 
tection against  those  whom    they  do    not  wish  to 
marry.     I  suppose  a  few  come  to  the  station  to  be- 
come Christianized  or  civilized,  but  they  do  change 
a//,  as  time  rolls  on,  and  seeing  the  "  more  excellent 
way,"  choose  it,   and    give  us   joy  in   our  hearts. 
These  "  young  people  "  are,  perhaps  as  an  average, 
about    sixteen  years  of  age.      They  come  heathen 
and   unclothed,  but   by  degrees   the   clothing   and 
teaching  work  in  them  changes  in  character   and 
habits,  and  when  God's  Spirit  comes  to  them  they 
seem  fitted  to  live  as  the  disciples  of  Christ,  and 
glorify  Him. 

I  have  often  looked  at  them,  still  young  and  strong 
and  full  of  life,  and  thought  how  each  could  tell  a  tale 
of  sorrow  and  sufferins;  unlike  those  of  us  Avho  ot(?w 

CD  ^ 

up  with  good  parents  in  our  good  land  of  America. 


42  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

Go  into  one  of  their  schools,  where,  evening  after 
evening,  they  write  and  read,  and  study  many 
things.  Go  back  into  the  liistory  of  each  one,  and 
your  blood  will  almost  run  cold,  and  you  will  not 
wonder  that  they  say  they  are  blessed  in  their  pres- 
ent life.  Here  is  a  young  girl  who  had  eight  si:)ear- 
tiirust  into  her  when  she  was  escaping  in  war  and 
crossing  a  river.  Here  is  another  who  was  found  a 
child,  fastened  on  the  back  of  her  mother,  the  mother 
dead,  floating  on  the  waters.  Here  is  a  girl  whose 
friends  sold  her  for  cattle  to  an  old  polygamist,  and 
she,  in  her  heart  loving  a  young  man,  yet  sent  to 
the  old  one  because  he  could  pay  two  more  cows 
for  her  than  he  whom  she  loved.  She  ran  to  the 
station,  and  the  father,  partly  from  fear  of  the  law, 
and  partly  by  persuasion,  has  allowed  her  to  remain, 
and  thus  will  lose  two  cows. 

Look  at  the  young  men,  and  it  is  the  same  story, 
not  of  marriage,  for  in  this  they  can  do  as  they  wish, 
but  of  persecution  or  danger.  Among  my  scholars 
was  a  young  man  with  such  a  fine  f  ice,  so  full  of 
intelligence  and  strength.  I  noticed  that  part  of 
the  little  finger  of  his  left  hand  was  gone,  and  one 
day  I  asked  him  how  it  was.  "  Oh,"  he  replied, 
"  that  is  my  tribe.  I  am  an  Ixosa,  ray  tribe  live 
manv  hundred  miles  from  here.  In  our  tribe,  when 
the  children  are  a  few  weeks  old,  the  little  finger  is 
cut  oif  to  mark  the  tribe,  and  we  none  of  us  have 
little  fingers  to  our  left  hands.  Our  tribe  was  great 
and  powerful,  ])ut  the  witch-doctors  destroyed  it. 
They  killed  cattle  and  put  their  heads  on  men's 
shoulders  in  a  pool  of  water,  and  then  after  incanta* 


m  ZULU  LAND.  43 

tioDS,  etc.,  they  made  the  animals  call  out  and  tell 
the  people  to  slay  all  their  cattle.  The  people  sup- 
posing the  cattle  spoke  by  divine  authority,  did  as 
they  were  told.  Their  food  thus  was  gone,  and  as 
the  people  w^ent  to  neighboring  tribes  for  food,  hun- 
dreds fell  down  and  died  of  starvation.  I  had  left 
my  friends  and  wandered  far.  Sinking  on  the 
ground  exhausted,  to  die,  one  of  the  Christians  from 
the  Zulu  stations  found  me.  He  brought  me  here 
with  him.  I  am  clothed  and  taught,  and  now  I  hope 
I  love  the  Saviour,  whom  I  should  never  have  known 
but  for  God's  care  of  me  when  near  death."  His 
friends  are  dead,  or,  if  some  are  living,  they  are 
separated  by  a  hostile  tribe  from  here,  and  he  could 
not  go  to  see  them  if  he  would. 

This  young  Ixosa  is  black,  but  at  his  side  sits  a 
young  man,  light  in  complexion,  and  smiling  and 
happy  looking.  Who  was  his  father?  A  young 
man  from  one  of  Holland's  first  families,  a  poor  lost 
son.  And  this  father  came  to  a  place  where  no 
law  could  control  his  sins.  Wild,  he  wandered 
among  the  Zulus ;  like  them,  yet  more  low  and  de- 
graded. His  two  little  children,  with  their  Zulu 
mother,  were  tossed  about  here  and  there.  The 
father  perished  in  a  Zulu  war,  and  the  children,  more 
needy  than  any  Zulu,  w^ere  without  a  place  to  call 
home.  The  mother  afterward  married  a  polygamist 
chief,  and  these  two  little*  children  were  made  as 
servants  to  the  Zulus,  who,  low  as  they  were,  could 
not  but  despise  their  white  father  in  his  greater  de- 
gradation. Thus  they  grew  up,  yet  going  down, 
down,  and  now  the  poor  sister,  after  a  life  oi"  evil, 


44  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

is  God  knows  where.  The  son  "  Charlie,"  as  we 
call  liim,  came  to  work  for  a  Zulu  at  a  station.  This 
seemed  the  turning  point  in  his  lile.  Though  grown, 
he  eagerly  sought  an  education,  and  the  inliuence  of 
all  around  him  has  raised  him  up  and  up.  At  our 
last  communion  he  joined  himself  with  the  Church 
of  Christ. 

There,  by  the  river,  ia  a  girl  neat  and  bright  look- 
ing, with  a  pail  of  water  on  her  head.  We  do  not 
need  to  ask  her  history.  Her  kraal  is  ten  miles  in- 
land. She  was  soon  to  be  sold  to  an  evil  old  man, 
and  one  night  she  ran  away.  Her  father  and  broth- 
ers followed  her,  and  tried  to  take  her  back.  She 
refused  to  go ;  and  more  and  more  delighted  with 
civilization  and  instruction,  she  told  us  she  could  not 
go  back  to  her  kraal.  The  father  and  brothers  be- 
came determined,  and  armed  with  spears,  their 
friends  came  to  help  them  carry  this  poor  girl  off  by 
force.  They  came  nearer  and  she  heard,  and  trem- 
blingly waited  within  a  mile  of  our  chapel.  As  the 
father  walked,  an  adder  bit  his  foot,  and  in  a  few 
short  moments  the  wretched  man  was  dead.  Tiie 
brotliers  and  friends  affrighted,  declared  this  was 
sent  by  their  sister's  God,  and  home  they  went,  nor 
will  they  dare  again  come  to  touch  their  sister. 

And  thus  if  you  go  into  our  chapel  on  Sunday  ; 
the  pews  are  full  quite  back  to  tlie  door.  At  the 
end  of  the  pew  sits  the  mother,  her  little  ones  by 
her  side,  and  their  father  at  the  door  of  the  pew. 
They  all  look  happy,  and  not  only  clean  but  pretty. 
Quiet  and  devout,  attentive  and  interested,  they 
listen  and  right  well  do  they  sing  those  hymns  and 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  45 

tunes  which  in  America  you  use  each  week.  Ask 
them  their  early  history.  They  were  the  "  young 
people  "  of  years  ago,  and  they  can  tell  their  tale  of 
suffering  and  escape,  as  those  who  are  young  now. 
But  they  thank  their  God,  with  earnest  prayers, 
that  their  children  were  born  in  the  light  of 
God's  truth,  and  their  greatest  desire  is  that  their 
children  be  wise  and  good.  You  would  not  see  a 
more  quiet,  well-behaved  congregation  anywhere. 
But  I  have  heard  these  men,  who  now  are  so  respect- 
able and  worthy  of  respect,  I  have  heard  them  tell 
of  the  time  when  they  were  little  boys.  The  mis- 
sionaries had  just  come,  and  their  parents  from 
curiosity  went  to  see  and  hear,  taking  them  as  chil- 
dren with  them.  They  sat  under  a  tree,  the  people 
"  squatting  "  on  the  ground  around  them.  Women 
with  babies  on  their  backs,  men  with  dogs  by  their 
side,  '*  young  men  and  maidens."  Order  there  was 
none.  In  the  midst  of  a  prayer  two  men  would 
begin  to  take  snuff  and  sneeze,  or  a  boy  would 
pinch  a  child  and  make  it  cry,  women  would  tickle 
each  other  and  laugh,  and  all  would  beat  or  pinch 
the  dogs,  causing  them  to  howl  out  loudly.  This 
was  the  "  order  "  of  those  days,  such  noises  as  you 
seldom  hear  in  America.  These  were  the  heathen 
congregations  of  years  ago,  and  there  are  such  now, 
differing  perhaps  a  very  little,  from  the  fact  that 
the  people  all  know  now  they  are  expected  to  be 
quiet  and  decent  when  with  a  missionary.  And 
we  have  to  feel  that  our  hope  of  usefulness  is  in 
the  young.  The  old  men  and  women  say  they  are 
too  old  to  pray,  too  old  to  learn  to  love  God,  and 


46  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

with  very  few  exceptions  they  die  as  they  hare 
lived.  But  tlieir  children  do  learn  to  pray,  and  see 
that  the  young  people  on  the  stations  are  happier 
and  better  off  than  they. 

There  are  some  families  where  every  child  has  left 
his  father  and  come  to  the  stations,  and  there  are 
some  fathei-s  who  are  glad  that  their  children  can  be 
tauffht  and  enlio-htened.  There  is  an  old  witch- 
doctor  near  us,  who  spends  his  time  deceiving  people, 
boiling  roots  and  old  rubbish,  and  with  all  kinds  of 
arts  pretending  to  cure  or  to  discover  witches  or 
thieves,  etc.  Yet  this  man,  shrewd  and  smart,  has 
seen  the  blessing  of  light  and  knowledge. 

At  his  desire  therefore,  all  his  children  are  sent  to 
the  station,  are  taught  and  clothed,  and  he  hopes 
they  will  be  Christians.  Yet  he  knows  his  feet  are 
going  down  to  death,  his  soul  doubly  darkened  with 
the  sin  of  knowing  he  deceived  the  people. 

We  have  heard  of  deaths  in  the  kraals,  where  the 
dying  seemed,  though  in  heathenism,  to  be  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ.  And  thus  we  hope  and  pray  that 
far  from  our  stations  light  may  penetrate,  and  many 
enter  heaven  whom  we  know  nothing  of  in  this 
world.  We  cannot  tell  of  these,  but  they  belong  to 
Kim.  "  I  am  the  good  Shepherd  and  know  my  sheep  " 
these  are  a  Saviour's  words. 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  47 


A  STRANGE  THING. 


FROM  THE  CONGBEGATIONAI.IST. 


Of  course  the  people  in  America  ought  to  be  wiser 
than  we,  who  are  so  much  cut  off  from  society  and 
influences  to  make  us  wise ;  but  I  want  to  speak  of 
a  strange  thing  which  perhaps  even  their  wisdom 
has  not  told  them. 

When  I  first  came  to  Africa,  of  course  I  did  not 
understand  the  language ;  and  I  often  wondered,  as 
the  natives  were  speaking  and  praying,  what  their 
words  meant.  Well  do  I  remember  one  Sunday ! 
It  was  "Monthly  Concert,"  which,  as' I  was  always 
told  in  America,  is  the  time  set  apart  to  pray  for  the 
whole  world,  that  God's  "  kingdom  may  come."  So 
do  our  people  regard  it,  and  I  suppose  that  at  all  the 
missions  they  have  taught  their  people  the  same. 

On  that  Sunday  which  I  remember,  at  the  monthly 
concert  one  of  the  men  made  a  prayer.  He  spoke  so 
distinctly,  that  with  my  increasing  knowledge  of  the 
language,  I  could  understand  nearly  every  word. 
First,  he  prayed  a  few  words  for  themselves,  but  the 
prayer  was  chiefly  for  others.  Yes,  he  remembered 
for  wdiat  the  meeting  was  intended.  He  remembered 
that  all  the  rest  of  the  month  they  could  pray  for 
themselves,  and  the  monthly  concert  he  put  to  its 
real  use,  and  prayed  for  the  world.  He  was  black, 
and  a  short  time  since,  a  few  years  at  most,  was  a 
savage,  wild  among  the  hills.  Yet  he  prayed  for  the 
white  people  over  the  sea,  who  were  not  Christians. 
He  prayed  for  the  Jews,  the  Mohammedans,  the  black 


48  CHRISTIAN  WORE 

people  m  Africa,  the  Chinese,  and  those  who  live  on 
the  isles  of  the  ocean.  Fervently  he  remembered 
them  all,  and  for  Christ's  sake  he  asked  blessings  on 
them  all,  and  that  they  might  be  taught  and  Chris- 
tianized. 

It  seemed  as  if  a  new  feeling  rushed  over  rae  that 
day.  I  was  brought  up  to  attend  the  monthly  con- 
certs since  I  was  a  child,  and  I  have  attended  them  in 
America,  in  cities,  towns  and  villages ;  but  because 
this  man's  prayer  seemed  strange,  I  began  to  think. 
I  thought  he  certainly  made  a  good  prayer,  I  thought 
it  was  exactly  suited  to  the  occasion,  and  then  it 
dawned  on  my  mind  why  it  seemed  a  strange  prayer. 
It  was  because  the  man  was  not  selfish ;  he  had  a 
large  heart,  and  once  a  month  he  was  willing  to  forget 
himself  and  his  friends  a  little,  and  to  remember  the 
world. 

Perhaps  America  is  not  now  as  it  was.  Let  me  re- 
member !  Brother  A —  used  to  pray  ;  he  prayed  long 
and  loud  for  ?<s,  that  we  might  be  this,  and  ive  might 
be  tliat,  and  then  all  in  a  hurry  at  the  end,  he  would 
pray,  ''Thy  kingdom  come,"  and  say  "Amen,"  and 
sit  down.  Brother  B —  did  the  same ;  and  Mr.  C — ■ 
and  Mr.  D —  and  all  of  them.  So  it  was  because  I 
was  brought  up  on  such  prayer  at  monthly  concerts 
that  when  I  heard  a  prayer  for  the  world,  I  had  a 
strange  feeling  of  Avonder  and  began  to  think. 

Good  friends  in  America,  don't  you  envy  us  our 
monthly  concerts?  Listen,  if  you  have  never  no- 
ticed it  before,  and  see  if  there  is  not  a  sad  selfishness 
in  these  meetings.  How  often  do  you  hear  the  na- 
tions prayed  for  by  name  ?     Count  the  times,  and 


m  ZULU  LAND.  49 

count  the  number  of  times  you  hear  the  word  "  us." 
See  which  has  the  largest  share  of  prayers  and  most 
blessings  called  down,  you  or  the  world. 

I  don't  undervalue  yo?/,  I  know  you  need  to  be 
prayed  for,  but  this  meeting  is  once  a  month,  I  un- 
derstand all  these  African  prayers  now ;  and  oh,  it 
seems  to  me  hard,  very  hard,  that  they  should  all 
pray  for  you  so  much  and  so  earnestly,  while  you 
pray  for  yourselves  alone,  perhaj^s  giving  them  half 
a  thought,  or  including  them  hastily  in  the  words, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come. 


VISIT  TO  UMBIYAKA'S  STATION. 

Umvoti,  November,  1866. 

I  send  this  account  by  itself,  because  I  would  like 
it  circulated,  as  far  as  may  be  possible,  without  its 
being  published,  feeling  sure  it  will  interest  all,  and 
especially  those  who  helped  in  the  box  of  clothing 
sent  last  March. 

Wednesday  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  Com- 
munion Service  at  TJmbiyana's.*  This  man  is  a  Zulu 
who  as  a  boy  lived  with  Mr.  Marsh.  He  became 
a  Christian  there,  and  was  left  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Marsh's  death,  together  with  William,  the  man  who 
led  Bishop  Colenso  to  change  his  views.  William 
and  Umbiyana  were  of  the  same  age.  The  former 
went  to  Colenso's  station,  the  latter  to  a  Norw^egian 
station. 

Three  years  ago  Umbiyana  applied  to  the  Ameri- 

*  06m-be-ah-nali. 


60  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

can  missionaries  for  a  place  where  he  could  work  for 
bis  countrymen.  He  is  a  small  man,  but  with  a  pleas- 
ant expression  and  very  neat-looking.  He  was  given 
a  place  in  the  interior  about  half  way  between  Mr. 
Abraham's  and  Mr.  Tyler's.  It  is  an  out-of-the-way 
place,  in  among  the  mountains,  so  difficult  of  access 
that  a  wagon  has  to  cross  and  recross  a  river  seven 
times  in  order  to  reach  it.  On  horseback  it  can  be 
reached  by  three  or  four  different  roads,  all  of  which 
illustrate  Mr.  Lindley's  remark,  that  he  had  "  always 
noticed  it  was  about  as  long  a  way  over  an  orange 
as  around  the  side."  Thus  in  these  roads,  you  can 
either  go  down  a  high  hill  and  up  again,  or  up  a  high 
hill  and  down  again. 

Mr.  Tyler  came  to  Mr.  Abraham's,  and  we  set  out 
in  the  morning  about  eight  o'clock.  The  clay  there 
is  so  slippery,  our  horses  had  great  difficulty  to  keep 
on  their  feet,  and  when  we  began  to  go  down  the 
hills  we  had  to  dismount  and  go  down  with  a  pole 
to  keep  from  slipping  and  falling.  There  were  sev- 
eral Christian  natives  with  us  from  other  stations 
who  were  going  there  to  join  in  the  services.  You 
can  hardly  imagine  the  roads,  so  steep  and  on  the 
eds:e  of  hi^h  cliffs,  over  the  trunks  of  trees  and  over 
stones,  as  we  went  scrambling,  slipping  and  walking. 
We  sometimes  mounted  and  rode  for  a  little,  and 
then  were  obliged  to  dismount  again.  We  crossed 
two  rivers  a  good  deal  swollen  by  the  rain,  still  not 
dangerous.  The  scenery  was  very  beautiful  as  we 
stood  on  the  tops  of  high  mountains  and  looked  far 
into  the  distance,  or  again  as  we  stood  in  the  valleys 
and  looked  upon  the  heights  above  us. 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  61 

Turning  around  a  mountain,  after  crossing  the  last 
river,  suddenly  brought  us  in  sight  of  the  station,  and 
it  sent  a  thrill  through  nie,  so  far  away  from  houses 
and  civilization.  The  largest  house,  Umbiyana's,  is 
on  a  hill,  and  below  this  hill  lies  the  kraal  of  the  chief, 
and  a  number  of  other  kraals  are  around.  There  is 
a  large  plain  here  plowed  and  full  of  grain  just  com- 
ing up.  To  the  left  is  a  high  mountain,  round  and 
running  up  almost  to  the  clouds,  perpendicular  and 
inaccessible.  To  the  right  is  the  valley  through  which 
the  river  runs,  and  over  in  another  direction  are  high 
rolling  hills  and  valleys.  The  house  is  of  brick  and 
quite  large,  and  the  people  are  in  houses  near.  The 
whole  place  has  been  cleared  and  cleaned  and  plant- 
ed, and  biicks  are  being  made  for  the  new  chapel, 
built  principally  with  part  of  the  money  sent  by  Mr. 
's  church  in  New  York. 

As  we  rode  up  to  the  house,  Umbiyana  came  out 
to  meet  us,  looking  very  happy,  as  he  had  good  rea- 
son to  be.  His  people  came  around,  and  the  first 
thing  I  saw  was  that  some  of  the  men  were  wearing 
coats  that  came  in  that  box  from  New  York ;  the 
women  and  children  also  in  clothing  which  that  same 
box  brought  over  the  water. 

You  must  not  think  I  talk  too  much  of  dress,  for 
I  tell  particulars  so  that  you  can  imagine  it  all.  The 
men  spoke  to  us  first,  and  then  Umbiyana's  wife  came 
out,  a  pretty,  bright  little  thing,  and  asked  me  to 
**walk  in."  She  has  two  pretty  little  children,  and 
is  herself  intelligent,  and  manages  beside  her  own 
family  to  teach  the  women  and  girls  to  sew,  to  cut, 
to  cook  and  keep  things  in  order.     They  call  her 


52  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

"  princess,"  the  title  of  a  chief's  wife.  The  children 
had  print  dressiis  and  white  aprons  and  sun-bonnets, 
and  showed  in  their  very  faces  that  they  were 
civilized.  She  wore  a  white  collar,  etc.,  and  was 
dressed  better  than  the  people,  as  was  her  husband. 
I  should  think  her  to  be  twenty-one  years  old.  She 
took  me  into  her  room  and  told  me  all  her  cares  and 
duties.  Soon  the  door  opened  and  the  women  came 
in;  there  were  two  pretty  young  women  with  their 
babies,  some  girls,  some  old  women  nearly  worn  out, 
and  several  middle  aged  women.  I  looked  at  them, 
and  there  seemed  a  light  about  them,  as  I  thought 
how  out  in  these  wild  hills  they  had  learned  to  love 
God  from  one  of  their  own  race,  himself  just  out  of 
darkness ;  and  they  seemed  so  full  of  respect  for  their 
missionary's  wife,  Avhile  she  put  the  last  touch  to 
make  their  dresses  straight  and  told  me  their  history 
as  she  did  so. 

There  are  now  twenty-nine  dressed  persons  living 
with  XJmbiyana,  over  twenty  of  whom  are  Christians, 
and  eighteen  form  his  church ;  the  others  waiting  to 
be  received  at  the  next  time.  He  himself  is  not  or- 
dained, and  therefore  is  not  able  to  hold  these  serv- 
ices without  a  minister's  being  present.  As  his  chapel 
is  not  finished,  our  service  was  to  be  under  a  thatch- 
ed roof  supported  by  poles,  a  wagon-house  I  believe 
it  is.  There  were  a  table  and  a  few  benches  around, 
and  the  children  sat  on  mats  on  the  floor.  He  calls 
the  people  by  blowing  an  ox  horn,  which  rings  over 
those  hills.  (A  bell  has  since  been  sent  him  for  his 
church).  We  sat  down,  and  the  eight  who  were  to 
join  his  church  were  there.    The  first  was  a  man  who 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  63 

Lad  had  four  wives,  three  he  had  put  away,  one  he 
keeps,  and  she  joined  the  church  with  him.  One  wife 
is  old  and  remains  with  her  grown  children  on  the 
station.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  man  like  that  to  cut 
off  his  head  ring  and  come  out  as  a  Christian,  far 
harder  than  for  a  young  man  to  do  so.  But  he  spoke 
decidedly :  "  I  was  in  my  kraal,  and  I  seemed  to  hear 
a  voice  and  I  could  not  refuse."  His  wife  told  how 
her  friends  tried  to  get  her  away  from  her  husband 
when  he  became  a  Christian,  and  she  ran  from  them 
and  said,  "  Would  you  have  him  in  light  and  me  in 
darkness  ?" 

There  was  also  another  man  with  his  wife.  The 
wife  said  she  came  to  hear  Umbiyana  preach,  and 
"  the  preaching  ate  her !  It  seemed  as  if  she  was  the 
only  sinner  in  the  world,  and  every  word  was  meant 
for  her,  and  she  could  not  rest  in  her  heart." 

There  was  a  young  manj  a  fine  noble  fellow,  who 
had  been  persecuted  by  his  friends,  but  he  stood  de- 
cided and  will  make  a  remarkable  man.  There  were 
two  little  boys  fourteen  years  old,  who  had  also  been 
"  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,"  but  their  words 
were  clear  and  decided ;  and  by  them  was  an  old 
woman  on  the  very  grave's  brink,  yet  she  knew  what 
she  believed,  and  her  face  did  not  change  even  when 
the  heathen  laughed  at  the  idea  of  baptizing  "  such 
an  old  thing,  fit  only  to  die  and  be  cast  out." 

These  are  the  eight ;  and  of  the  ten  others,  two 
were  old  women,  two  young  men,  and  the  rest  hus- 
bands with  their  wives.  After  their  examination, 
Mr.  Tyler  preached  a  sermon  to  the  heathen,  who 
were  in  a  crowd  around.      They  were  dressed  in 


54  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

beads  and  every  sort  of  thing,  and  had  their  spears 
and  sliields,  but  were  very  orderly,  for  they  dearly 
love  Umbiyana,  and  doubtless  from  them  many  will 
come  out  to  him,  as  has  been  the  case  in  the  years 
gone  by. 

Can  you  see  it  ?  Under  that  w^agon-house  roof,  a 
little  band  baptized  one  by  one;  no  silver^  only  a 
common  blue  china  bowl  for  water;  no  organ,  or 
handsome  church,  or  great  congregation ;  only  the 
blue  sky,  wild  mountain  peaks  and  the  birds  and 
trees,  with  the  ground  around  covered  with  gaily- 
dressed,  feathered,  painted,  and  armed  men  and  wo- 
men. But  it  was  the  same  in  God's  sight.  And  I 
looked  around  thinking  /  had  never  witnessed  such 
a  scene,  wishing  you  all  could  see  it.  Our  singing 
rolled  out  sweetly  among  the  hills,  for  there  are  some 
fine  singers  there,  and  we  sang  "  The  Shining  Shore  " 
and  "Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee"  and  "  Coronation" 
among  those  hills  without  organ  or  choir. 

After  they  were  baptized  we  went  away,  and  re- 
turned in  a  few  minutes  to  have  the  Communion 
Service.  There  were  some  from  other  stations,  mak- 
ing in  all  quite  a  little  band,  and  there  was  a  solem- 
nity which  I  never  felt  even  in  our  great  churches  at 
home,  where  all  is  so  imposing.  The  people /<^//,  and 
the  want  of  a  Communion  Service,  church,  or  othei 
tlnngs  was  little  to  them.  One  old  woman  said  to 
me,  ''I  have  been  sick  for  several  weeks,  but  I  could 
not  stay  away  to-day.  We  are  old  and  are  women 
despised  elsewhere,  but  in  Jesus'  eyes  we  are  the 
same  as  the  greatest  in  the  world.  IMy  son  cast  me 
out,  and  then  when  I  became  a  Christian  he  denied 


m  ZULXr  LAND.  55 

me  food,  but  I  am  bappy  for  tbe  few  montbs  left 
me." 

These  poor  old  women  make  mats  and  sell  them  to 
the  missionaries,  and  thus  by  hard  work  earn  suffi- 
cient to  keep  themselves  clotlied.  There  were  one 
or  two  children  baptized,  and  to  one  of  these  an  old 
heathen  woman,  naked,  except  her  cow-skin  dress, 
said,  "  Now  you  must  be  good  always,  for  you  are  a 
child  of  the  King  in  heaven  now." 

After  the  service  I  went  and  sat  in  the  verandah. 
The  people  gathered  about,  and  I  talked  with  one 
and  another.  There  were  two  or  three  children 
whom  their  parents  had  given  to  Umbiyana  to  train 
as  Christians.  One  or  two  of  the  young  men  told 
me  how  their  fathers  had  disinherited,  them  and  cast 
them  off;  and  one  girl  said  her  friends  came  raging 
after  her,  and  she  walked  up  and  said,  "  Here  is  a 
spear,  kill  me !  but  you  can  never  take  me  back 
again  to  heathenism." 

It  was  wonderful  through  all,  to  see  the  love  and 
respect  they  have  for  their  missionary.  His  word  is 
law ;  and  yet  he  is  so  kind  and  humble  they  come  to 
him  for  everything.  He  builds  their  houses,  teaches 
them  to  read,  to  write,  to  plow,  and  for  evei:ything 
they  wish  to  know  they  go  to  him.  He  has  large 
congregations  of  heathen  and  large  schools.  He  told 
me  he  needed  writing  books,  which  have  been  sent 
to  him,  and  when  the  next  box  comes,  some  of  the 
clothino;  will  be  sent  there,  for  I  am  sure  it  is  well 
used.  If  the  friends  could  see,  they  would  be  thankful 
to  be  allowed  to  work  or  give,  to  help  that  man  in 
his  great  work  for  his  people. 


5G  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

I  sat  with  them  there  till  the  sun  began  to  go 
down,  and  was  sorry  to  say  "good-bye"  to  one  and 
all.  If  I  live  I  intend  to  go  and  spend  some  days 
there  again,  for  what  is  a  bad  road  with  such  scenes 
at  the  end  ? 


UMBIYAJ^A'S  REPORT. 


June,  1867. 


Here  are  the  words  I  have  to  speak. 

The  members  of  my  church,  male  and  female, 
including  my  wife  and  myself,  are  eighteen.  Those 
who  are  Christians,  yet  not  members,  number  four. 

The  people  come  to  church  sometimes  in  large  num- 
bers, sometimes  fewer  come.  The  children  of  the 
kraals  wish  to  learn,  but  some  of  them  are  hindered 
by  their  parents.  There  is  school  at  the  station 
every  day.  On  Sunday  I  try  to  teach  all  the  kraal 
people  to  read  in  books.  They  love  me,  and  I  love 
them,  and  we  do  not  complain  of  each  other. 

I  go  to  the  kraals  every  Friday  and  preach.  The 
people  listen ;  they  say  it  is  true  and  good.  They 
say  I  must  come  always. 

Thus  I  walk  in  my  work — the  work  of  the  Lord. 
I  love  it.  There  is  no  other  such  great  work,  such 
lovely  work.  No  ;  I  repeat  it,  there  is  no  other  such 
work  so  noble  in  the  world.  I  long  for  more  strength 
from  God  than  I  now  have;  for  to-day 'my  strength 
is  small,  I  need  help  from  above. 

I  am  made  sad  by  the  people.  When  I  talk  with 
them  they  say  it  is  true,  but  they  do  not  believo. 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  57 

nevertheless.  They  do  not  deny  it  is  true.  I  long 
for  the  Holy  Spirit  in  this  dc4ightful  work. 

Our  children,  and  their  nurses  and  the  working 
people,  number  fourteen.  Altogether,  dressed  people, 
we  are  thirty-six  at  our  station. 

I  need  a  chapel,  and  have  tried  to  make  one.  My 
oxen  died  of  lung-sickness,  so  for  a  short  time  I  was 
stopped.  I  have  made  a  school-house.  The  length 
is  thirty-seven  feet,  the  width  fourteen.  It  is  of 
brick. 

Those  joining  the  church  this  year  are  eight  in 
number.  Umbiyana. 

Later,  Umbiyana  reports  forty-two  converts  in 
three  years  at  his  station. 


TISIT  TO  MUSI. 

Umvoti,  November,  1866. 

I  have  been  trying  to  find  time  to  tell  you  of  my 
visit  to  Musi,  the  chief  of  the  Amqwabe,  and  a 
famous  man  in  these  parts.  Mr.  Abraham  went 
with  me,  as  he  himself  wished  to  visit  Musi's*  kraal 
and  home.  I  cannot  say  precisely  how  far  it  is  from 
Mapumulof  or  Umvoti,J:  for  the  road  is  over  the 
steepest  hills  and  deepest  valleys,  and  can  hardly 
be  measured  by  miles.  Very  soon  after  leaving 
Mr.  Abraham's,  we  began  to  go  down  and  up  in 
such  places,  and  at  such  angles,  as  I  have  only  seen 
in   the  White  Mountains.     Even   the   horses  were 

*  Moo-see.     f  Mah-poo-moo-lo.    X  Oom  v6-ty. 
3* 


58-  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

frightened  at  the  road,  and  sometimes  stood  still 
afraid  to  go  forward. 

In  the  midst  of  this  really  dangerous  road,  I  could 
not  help  admiring  the  scenery,  distant  views  in  all 
directions,  rivers  rushing  through  the  valleys,  smooth 
green  hills  rolling  regularly  along,  thick  wooded 
land  and  innumerable  flowers  of  every  color.  The 
only  signs  of  human  life  were  in  the  kraals  scattered 
here  and  there,  and  the  cattle  upon  these  thousand 
hills.  We  did  not  pass  many  kraals,  although 
many  were  visible,  which  seemed  small  enough  as 
we  looked  down  upon  them  from  the  heights. 

As  we  approached  Musi's  territory  the  number  of 
kraals  increased,  and  they  appeared  on  every  side. 
Ilis  abode  is  called  "  The  Evening  Star,"  and  sud- 
denly it  came  in  view,  perched  on  a  hill  by  itself. 
After  various  turnings  and  twistings  we  ascended 
that  hill  and  came  suddenly  to  the  entrance  of  the 
fence,  what  in  America  would  be  called  a  gate^  only 
there  is  no  gate  there.  Leaving  the  horses  outside, 
we  were  saluted  by  "  How  are  you  ?"  from  a  number 
of  men  seated  inside,  near  the  place  where  the  cows 
were  being  milked.  We  walked  around  this  cii-cular 
place,  and  at  the  back  found  a  hut  enclosed  by  a 
private  fence,  which,  except  for  the  enclosure,  was 
externally  just  like  all  the  other  huts.  Presently 
there  appeared  a  tall,  fine-looking  man,  with  a  very 
pleasant  face,  and  an  air  about  bim  which  showed 
him  to  be  a  chief.  He  was  very  cordial  in  his  greet- 
ings, and  invited  us  to  "  wHlk  in." 

JNIr.  A.  went  to  look  after  the  horses,  and  IMusi 
called  for  a  mat  to  be  placed  at  the  entrance,  on 


m  ZULZr  LAND.  59 

which  he  crawled  in.  The  doors  are  always  small 
and  low.  Then  he  told  me  to  follow  him,  and  im- 
mediately had  the  mat  removed  to  prevent  "  common 
people  "  from  entering  upon  it.  He  sat  on  one  side 
of  the  door  on  a  number  of  mats ;  I  was  quite  near 
him,  and  two  of  his  wives  were  there. 

Almost  his  first  words  were,  "  Well,  when  am  I 
going  to  have  some  one  to  teach  me  and  my  people  ?" 
I  told  him  I  did  not  know ;  our  missionaries  were 
talking  about  it,  but  I  did  not  know  what  they  had 
decided  to  do.  I  began  to  talk  of  something  else, 
but  he  sat  quiet  and  then  said : 

"  When  I  saw  you  I  hoped  you  had  come  to  teach 
us.  Why  is  it  that  other  places  are  taught  and  we 
cannot  learn  ?  I  will  build  a  house,  I  have  chosen 
a  place,  and  will  do  everything  I  can  to  help  a  mis- 
sionary. Do  you  not  see  I  am  a  chief?  I  have 
many  people  under  my  authority,  and  I  want  the 
whole  tribe  to  learn.  DonU  you  think  the  peojple  in 
America  could  send  me  somebody  ?  I  think  I  should 
soon  be  a  Christian.  I  used  to  hear  from  Dr.  Adams 
long  ago,  and  I  remember  the  Lord's  Prayer  and 
some  hymns  noAV.  Do  you  not  know  I  am  not  like 
other  chiefs  ?  1  like  the  light  and  learning,  and  I 
want  to  be  taught." 

I  asked  him  how  he  would  like  one  of  his  own 
race.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  somebody  I  must  have ;  and 
if  I  cannot  have  some  one  from  over  the  ocean,  I 
must  take  a  black  person.  I  do  not  wish  time 
thrown  away.  I  want  the  children  to  learn  while 
they  are  young.  If  I  cannot  possibly  have  a  white 
person,  then  I  will  be  glad  of  a  black  person." 


60  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

I  had  a  long  talk  with  him,  too  long  to  repeat,  in 
which  I  tried  to  find  his  reasons  for  wishing  a  mis- 
sionary so  much,  for  it  is  perhaps  an  unprecedented 
case  in  this  land.  The  chiefs  are  generally  so  bigoted, 
and  it  is,  with  them  here  as  in  the  days  of  Christ,  the 
common  people  who  hear  gladly.  From  what  I 
could  judge  in  talking,  it  would  seem  that  Musi's 
boyhood  was  spent  near  or  at  one  of  the  stations. 
It  is  years  since  he  left,  yet  there  and  then  he  learned 
to  believe  that  there  is  a  God,  and  to  believe  in 
Christ.  lie  also  saw  then  that  learning  did  no 
harm,  which  removed  his  superstition  in  that  resjDCct, 
and  it  is  as  he  himself  said — "  The  chief  near  me 
grew  up  in  heathenism,  so  he  is  afraid  of  everything 
and  does  not  wish  any  light.  As  for  myself  I  grew 
lip  at  a  station,  and  I  saw  that  the  light  was  good, 
though  I  did  not  then  receive  it." 

This  then,  is  one  reason  ;  he  has  not  such  a  wall  of 
superstition  about  him.  Another  is,  that  he  is  a  very 
ambitious  man ;  he  wishes  to  be  above  other  people 
and  better  than  they.  Therefore,  seeing  that  the 
Christians  are  every  way  elevated  far  above  the 
heathen,  he  wishes  to  build  his  own  glory,  not  only 
on  his  rank  and  power,  but  on  his  Avisdom.  I  can- 
not say  his  motives  are  the  highest  or  the  most  pure, 
nevertheless,  it  is  a  great  and  wide-open  door  in  a 
place  where  every  one  is  counted,  and  causes  grati- 
tude. To  teach  a  whole  Jcraal  is  a  great  thing.  Here 
is  a  tribe.  I  think  the  truth  is  in  Musi's  heart,  covered 
it  is  true,  by  many  things,  but  still  a  spark  which 
may  fan  into  a  flame  now  if  eff*orts  are  made.  1  was 
greatly  interested  in  his  son,  a  boy  fourteen  years 


m  ZULU  LAND.  61 

old,  who  will  succeed  his  father  as  chief.  The  hoy 
fairly  shines  with  smartness,  and  I  believe  could 
learn  to  read  in  a  few  weeks.  He  seemed  quite 
unwilling  to  listen  to  a  word  of  having  to  wait  for 
a  teacher  while  other  boys  were  wise,  and  he,  the 
chief's  son,  below  them  in  learning.  The  children 
all  seemed  pretty  and  bright,  and  Musi  said  the 
kraals  far  and  wide  swarmed  with  children,  and  he 
had  only  to  say  "  come,"  and  they  would  all  come. 
You  cannot  appreciate  all  this,  but  it  makes  ray 
heart  bound  to  think  of  it,  for  we  have  to  pick  up 
one  here  and  one  there,  and  mjiny  are  bound  and 
kept  from  learning,  and  others  are  persecuted ;  and 
it  is  like  finding  a  fountain  @f  water  in  a  desert,  for 
our  hearts  thirst  for  such  things,  and  we  find  but 
the  drop  here  and  there  to  cheer  and  refresh  us, 
while  here  is  a  fountain. 

I  wish  some  one  might  be  sent  from  home.  In 
many  places  a  native  does  well,  but  here,  I  should 
say,  find  the  right  man  from  America  and  these  hills 
would  soon  ring  with  other  words  than  those  now 
spoken  there. 

But  to  return  to  the  visit.  I  have  said  Musi's 
wives  were  some  of  them  in  the  hut,  and  soon  there 
came  a  young  bride,  as  her  costume  showed,  to  whom 
the  chief  showed  attention  and  partiality  enough  to 
have  caused  the  others  to  poison  or  shoot  themselves 
with  envy  had  they  been  white.  His  breakfast  was 
about  to  be  served,  at  the  amount  of  which  I  was 
filled  with  astonishment,  until  I  learned  that  he  had 
not  eaten  since  the  day  before.  One  wife  bowing 
before  him    on  the  ground,   poured  water   on   his 


62  CnmSTIAN  WORK 

hands,  and  hy  the  way,  he  had  soap  and  towels — 
wonder  of  wonders  !  in  heathenism.  Then  a  covered 
dish  of  meat  was  bronght  in,  he  eating  with  a  knife 
and  four-tined  fork.  His  covered  china  dishes,  etc., 
he  had  bought  from  white  people,  and  he  remarked 
he  thought  he  knew  how  to  use  them  about  as  well 
as  a  white  man,  a  fact  I  did  not  dispute. 

When  the  meat  was  eaten,  anot^her  wife  mixed 
some  corn  and  sour  milk,  and  crouching  before  him, 
presented  it.  He  ate  a  dish  of  that,  and  when  he  had 
finished  it,  the  last  spoonful  was  poured  into  the 
hands  of  the  wife,  as  her  reward  for  her  services. 
Meantime  the  other  wife,  for  the  bride  did  not  work 
or  serve,  mixed  some  beer  in  a  pitcher,  and  fanned 
the  flies  from  his  face  while  he  drank.  I  handed 
him  a  piece  of  bread  we  had  brought  for  lunch,  and 
he  seemed  greatly  to  enjoy  it,  saying  he  wished  his 
wives  knew  how  to  cook  such  things,  they  were  so 
sweet  and  good. 

Then  suddenly  he  told  a  daughter  outside  to  go 
and  tell  his  wife  who  was  cooking,  to  roast  him  an 
ox's  heart.  While  this  was  being  prepared,  some 
old  women  came  to  the  door,  and  after  a  long  intro- 
duction in  the  style  of  the  address  in  Daniel,  "  O 
king,  live  forever,"  etc.,  and  having  chanted  a  song 
in  his  praise,  they  informed  him  that  they  were 
dying  with  hunger,  which  was  of  course,  an  exag- 
geration, common  enough  here  however.  He  replied 
they  could  eat  in  the  afternoon  when  the  sun  was 
there,  pointing  to  about  three  o'clock.  Here  the  old 
women  chanted  again  their  thanks  and  withdrew. 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  the  women's  language. 


IN. ZULU  LAND.  63 

There  are  so  many  words  which  they  are  not  alloM  ed 
to  epeak,  that  everything  has  a  diiferent  name,  and 
it  sounds  almost  like  another  language. 

By  this  time  the  ''heart"  was  cooked  and  was 
brought  in  by  a  boy ;  but  Musi  ordered  it  to  be  re- 
turned and  brought  as  he  had  directed,  by  a  girl, 
his  daughter.  The  people  seemed  frightened  at 
their  mistake,  and  the  girl  hastened  to  appear.  He 
gave  pieces  to  his  wives  and  the  people  around,  eat- 
ing the  choice  bits  himself.  While  eating,  he  talked 
about  many  things,  and  every  sentence  was  responded 
to  by  his  wives,  "  Yes,  my  lord ;"  as  for  example, 
they   were  crouching  around,   and  he   would    say: 

"Now,  I   think" "Yes,  my  lord," "that 

this  meat," "  Yes,  my  lord," "  is  very  nice." 

"  Yes,  my  lord,"  till  I  was  quite  tired  of  hear- 
ing it,  and  wondered  he  was  not. 

He  was  continually  returning  to  the  subject  of  find- 
ing a  teacher,  and  said  he  should  go  to  the  mission- 
aries in  person  and  apply,  which  he  has  since  done. 
He  has  quite  a  number  of  nice  things,  clothing, 
chairs,  dishes,  oxen,  carts,  plows,  etc.,  and  said  he 
was  intendinc:  to  build  himself  a  house  like  the  mis- 
sionaries.  I  really  believe  he  thoroughly  likes  civil- 
ization, while  I  confess  in  those  mountains  his  people 
are  all  heathenish  to  a  greater  extent  than  I  have 
seen  elsewhere.  He  himself  is  putting  one  foot  out 
of  the  mire,  and  if  a  helping  hand  is  reached  out  to 
him,  he  will  put  out  both  feet  and  drag  those  who 
are  with  him  that  they  follow  him. 

Thus  we  came  away  from  that  "  Evening  Star," 
and  I  felt  half  sad,  half  glad,  as  I  looked  back  and 


64  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

thought  how  that  hill  may  be  made  really  to  shine 
as  a  star,  and  give  brightness  far  around  it,  if  the 
Gospel  is  quickly  sent;  and  most  fervently  do  I  pray 
God  that  it  may  be  so. 

As  no  white  riian  could  be  found,  the  missionary 
sent  was  Jolin  Hlonono,  a  preacher  and  elder  in  the 
church  at  Umvoti. 

REPORT  FROM  MUSFS  STATION. 

Umvoti,  July,  18G7. 

I  think  you  cannot  but  be  interested  in  my  repeat- 
ing a  conversation  I  had  the  other  day  with  Hlouono. 
You  know  he  is  at  Musi's,  and  his  heart  and  soul 
seem  full  of  his  missionary  work.  He  came  heie  one 
day,  and  I  met  him  on  the  road  as  he  was  retuming. 
I  said  to  him  I  supposed  there  was  not  much  1  o  tell 
yet  from  his  part  of  the  world,  as  he  hctd  been  there 
BO  short  a  time. 

He  said ;  "  There  is  more  to  tell  than  you  would 
well  believe.  I  never  saw  people  so  anxious  to  learn. 
While  I  am  trying  to  build  my  house,  with  the  two 
young  men  from  the  station  who  help  me,  we  can 
hardly  work,  because  of  the  people  coming  to  learn ; 
and  when  evenins;  comes  we  lio^ht  a  2;reat  fir«3  (one 
of  the  young  men  said  he  thought  it  must  be  as  large 
as  the  one  Shadrach  and  his  friends  were  put  into), 
and  by  its  light  we  teach  until  midnight. 

"On  Sunday  we  worship  under  a  gieat  tree,  and 
often  a  hundred  or  more  are  present.  After  our  serv- 
ice, all  learn  to  read  j  and  we  should  be  glad  oi  thirty 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  65 

teachers  instead  of  three,  so  anxious  and  eager  aro 
they. 

'*  L.ist  Sunday  a  man  who  has  a  large  kraal  said 
he  did  not  wish  his  daughters  taught,  lest  they  run 
away  and  be  Christians,  and  he  get  few  cattle  for 
them  at  their  marriao-e.  Therefore  we  did  not  teach 
the  girls.  Monday  morning  a  man  wdio  lives  near, 
and  has  as  many  as  fifty  children,  came  to  me  and 
wanted  to  know  what  all  this  meant ;  his  girls  learned 
nothing  yesterday.  I  said  I  had  been  requested  not 
to  teach  the  girls.  '  Well,'  he  replied,  '  my  girls 
are  mine,  and  /  want  them  taught,  and  if  they  be- 
come Christians,  so  much  the  better,  and  I  shall  be 
very  angry  if  my  children  are  not  all  taught.'  So 
we  teacli  his  girls. 

"  The  people  of  course  cannot  sing  hymns,  but  we 
sing  and  they  make  a  noise  which  sounds  much  like 
the  buzzing  of  wasps  or  bees,  and  they  think  they 
sing.  They  are  very  anxious  to  sing  hymns  and  tell 
their  children  to  listen  liard^  so  as  to  learn  to  sing 
well. 

"  A  few  weeks  ago  a  boy  came  from  a  kraal  far  off 
and  learned  the  first  ten  letters  of  the  alphabet.  He 
Avent  home  and  the  next  week  brouglit  some  of  hfs 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  lo  !  they  also  knew  the  first 
ten  letters.  They  said  he  had  taught  them,  and  they 
learned  the  rest  of  the  letters,  one  telling  the  other, 
until  we  wonder  very  much  to  see  how  fist  some  of 
them  learn  to  read.  We  are  astonished  also  to  see 
how  they  understand  the  words  j^ reached  to  them. 
Some  of  them  can  repeat  most  of  a  sermon  and  neem 
to  understand  well. 


66  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

"  It  makes  me  wonder  very  much  that  people  should 
be  so  quick  to  hear  of  God  and  Christ.  I  really  feel 
as  if  there  never  were  people  so  ready  for  the  Gospel 
and  interested  in  it  as  these  people.  Such  a  short 
time  aofo  thev  were  iifraid  of  the  siofht  of  a  book,  and 
not  one  would  have  listened  to  a  word  about  God, 
or  of  being  Christians,  and  now  they  are  more  than 
willing.     It  seems  indeed  the  work  of  God  himself" 

Illonono  seems  well  fitted  for  the  work  which 
he  has  undertaken,  and  to  which  he  has  given  his 
heart.  He  is  not  more  than  thirty  years  old,  but 
reads  and  writes  Zulu  and  English,  and  is  well  ad- 
vanced in  Arithmetic.     His  sermons  are  very  good. 

You  see  we  black  people  send  our  best  offerings  to 
teach ;  we  don't  say,  "  anybody  is  good  enough  for 
a  missionary;"  so  our  best  preacher,  a  man  whom 
all  respect,  our  best  singer  except  one,  and  our  main 
reliance,  was  sent  away  to  this  wild  place. 

He  left  his  business  and  work  when  he  was  grow- 
ing rich  and  went  for  a  small  salary  to  live  among 
the  heathen,  and  as  he  and  his  wife  were  brought  up 
on  a  station  (her  father  was  a  Christian),  it  is  a  real 
sacrifice  going  away  from  their  home  and  all  their 
comforts  and  privileges.  He  will  miss  his  music  and 
many  things  which  he  enjoys  here.  I  mention  this, 
because  I  dare  say  many  will  think  it  is  nothing  for 
a  Zulu  to  be  a  missionary  to  his  own  people. 

They  say  at  first  they  are  so  lonely,  away  from  all 
Christian  intercourse  and  companionship,  until  their 
people  begin  to  be  Christians ;  and  they  don't  like 
heathen  life  and  ways  any  better  than  we  do.  But 
they  go  cheerfully  and  heartily  to  their  work. 


m  ZULU  LAND.  67 


APPEAL  TO  THE  CHURCH. 

Umvoti,  January  3,  1867. 

My  Dear  Friends, — The  sun  has  been  shining 
with  its  summer  heat  these  last  few  weeks,  and  we 
have  not  felt  the  strength  which  we  really  need  to 
do  all  the  teaching  and  work  here  around  us. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  cant  in  the  world,  and  in 
books  and  newspapers  and  preaching,  and  we  often 
hear  of  missionaries  as  "  bearing  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day ;"  but  I  am  not  going  to  write  cant,  nor 
yet  to  talk  as  if  writing ;  I  only  want  to  speak  as  if 
we  were  talking,  and  tell  you  what  is  in  my  heart. 

Well,  the  weather  has  been  hot,  and  it  is  hard  to 
be  cheerful  and  hopeful,  and  to  work  with  energy  at 
such  times.  Then  I  was  thinking  by  way  of  cheer- 
ing myself,  that  the  next  day  (it  was  Thursday) 
would  bring  home  letters  and  papers,  "  good  news 
from  home."  Expecting  this  seemed  to  make  my 
heart  lighter,  and  my  feet  too.  Thursday  came,  and 
opening  the  Observer  I  saw  an  account  of  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Board  at  Pittsfield.  That  seemed 
to  make  another  bright  side  to  my  heart  as  I  began 
to  read  it,  and  I  thought  we  should  hear  of  plenty  of 
money,  and  still  better,  plenty  of  men  to  help  in  these 
days,  when  every  field  is  so  much  under-supplied 
with  men.  We  need  men  here ;  could  find  work  for 
many  more ;  and  if  other  places  are  supplied  as  we 
are,  I  am  sorry  for  the  heathen  and  the  missionaries. 

I  read  hopefully  on  until  it  comes  to  the  record  of 
a  sad  part  of  the  meeting  :  there  were  no  men  offer- 


C8  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

ing  themselves  to  go  abroad.  There  I  stopped.  I 
looked  to  see  if  the  words  were  really  there ;  I  looked 
at  the  hills  around  me  where  the  heathen  dwelt;  I 
looked  at  the  sun  and  sky  and  thought  how  tired  we 
all  were,  and  for  one  little  moment  I  thought  if  this 
be  true  in  Ameiica,  where' they  are  so  surrounded 
by  comforts  to  soul  and  body,  it  would  be  well 
for  us  if  we  could  just  go  to  sleep  and  wake  up  in 
heaven. 

Just  a  moment  this  feeling  lasted,  and  then  I  was 
grieved  at  the  selfishness  of  such  a  thought.  But  I 
put  down  the  Observer,  and  went  into  my  room,  and 
there  was  a  long  and  bitter  struggle,  which  God  only 
knows,  before  I  could  say,  "  If  God  permits  this,  it 
must  be  well." 

It  was  easy  to  see  His  hand  in  the  disappoint- 
ments of  our  life  here ;  it  was  easy  to  see  it  and  say, 
"It  is  well,"  when  He  called  to  his  holy  heaven  those 
whom  we  loved.  It  was  easy  to  feel  it  was  well 
even  when  the  heart  was  crying  out  in  loneliness  for 
them,  for  their  journey  was  heavenward ;  but  do 
you  wonder  if  my  heart  long  refused  to  say,  "  it  is 
well,"  as  I  saw  the  road  not  heavenward,  in  which 
were  walking  those  whom  I  loved,  and  who  were 
calling  for  some  one  to  show  them  the  road  to  heav- 
en ;  it  was  hard  to  say,  "  it  is  well,"  when  I  saw  there 
was  no  reason  why  there  were  not  scores  ready  to 
show  these  that  heavenly  road,  no  reason  which  Jesus 
Christ  would  call  a  reason. 

But  I  was  able  after  that  ^reat  struo-ofle,  to  see 
God's  great  love  to  those  poor  people,  and  to  ask 
him  to  forgive  those  who  thought  they  had  a  reason 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  69 

to  give  their  S<avionr.  But  I  did  not  want  to  read 
the  papers,  and  when  in  ray  letters  I  read  the  same 
words,  I  did  not  want  to  finish  them,  lest  those  weary, 
bitter  thoughts  should  return  again. 

I  do  not  want  to  talk  strongly,  nor  must  yon  say 
I  am  romantic  or  fanatical.  Both  these  traits  soon 
pass  away  amid  the  reality  of  such  a  life  as  ours. 
Romance  may  last  a  month,  fanaticism  a  week,  but 
no  longer.  But  there  grows  in  one's  heart  a  feeling 
stronger  than  either,  like  that  which  made  Paul  say, 
"  Neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  me." 

But  I  do  not  write  a  sermon  or  a  lecture,  I  only 
want  to  tell  you  and  to  ask  you.  You  say,  "  ask 
what  ?" 

That  evening  I  went  into  the  school-room  where 
some  young  men  were  taking  out  their  books.  As  I 
spoke  to  them,  they  said,  "  Did  you  hear  from  Amer- 
ica, to  day  ? — did  you  have  good  news  ?  Are  there 
missionaries  coming  here  and  going  to  other  poor 
people  in  darkness?"  Then  ray  heart  cried  out 
again,  and  seemed  to  say,  "  Why  do  they  ask  that 
question  to-day,  of  all  days  ?"  But  I  did  not  speak 
this,  I  only  said  "  no."  They  asked  me  why,  but  I 
passed  on  as  if  I  did  not  hear,  for  what  could  I  answer  ? 

Tell  me  this,  and  ask  your  friends  what  to  say  to 
plead  their  reason  to  this  people. 

I  passed  them  and  began  setting  copies  in  some 
writing  books.  Two  or  three  seemed  so  astonished 
they  dropped  into  silence  and  looked  at  each  other ; 
but  two,  one  a  young  raan  just  from  heathenism,  and 
the  other,  one  who  for  some  time  had  been  a  Chris- 
tian, did  not  rest  thus.     One  spoke  to  the  other,  but 


70  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

the  words  went  into  my  heart  and  into  my  head,  and 
as  if  printed  on  paper  they  arc  not  to  be  forgotten. 

"  I  sometimes  think,"  said  he,  "  when  I  look  around, 
that  God  must  have  made  heaven  for  white  people, 
or  perhaps  I  cannot  say  that,  for  he  is  oiir  Father  I 
know,  but  if  he  made  heaven  for  all,  the  white  peo- 
ple wish  themselves  only  to  go  there,  and  if  I  were 
learned  and  wise,  and  not  a  poor  ignorant  black  per- 
son, it  would  seem  to  me  that  our  forefathers  in 
God's  mercy  would  be  saved.  The  ones  whom  God 
would  punish  would  be  those  who  had  light  but 
never  gave  it.  My  father  died ;  he  did  not  know 
God ;  ho2o  was  he  to  know  ?  how  could  he  believe  if  no 
one  was  sent  ?  and  yet  over  the  ocean,  they  say  for 
hundreds  of  years  they  have  known  of  God,  and  have 
been  at  their  death  going  to  him  in  heaven.  If  they 
knew  these  things,  why  were  our  forefathers  left  to 
die  in  darkness  ?  Oh  no,  no,  I  do  not  say  it  with  a 
wicked  heart,  but  it  surely  is  not  they  who  are  to  be 
cast  aside  for  what  they  did  not  know,  while  others 
who  knew,  and  kept  the  light  from  them  are  to  enjoy 
heaven  eternally." 

The  other  answered,  "  The«e  thoughts,  such  as  you 
ppeak,  come  into  my  heart  very  often.  I  do  see  that 
if  we  hear  and  do  not  love  God,  it  is  just  and  well 
that  we  be  punished.  But  all  in  the  lands  over  the 
ocean  know  of  God,  and  perhaps  all  may  be  saved  at 
their  death,  if  they  repent.  Those  in  this  Tand  who 
have  not  heard,  how  can  they  repent  unless  they 
hear?  and  how  can  they  hear  unless  more  are  sent 
to  tell  them?  I  hear  America  is  full  of  Christians, 
aud  1  wonder  often  why  they  do  not  come  here,  and 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  7] 

r  cannot  find  any  reason  in  my  heart,  unless  it  be 
that  they  choose  to  keep  heaven  for  themselves  and 
do  not  wish  us  to  go  there.     It  must  be  so. 

"  They  say  they  pray  for  us.  So  I  could  pray  for 
my  father,  but  if  I  did  not  go  to  him  and  tell  him, 
I  should  be  like  a  man  with  a  wagon  full  of  food, 
saying  to  a  hungry  man,  '  I  hope  you  will  find  food 
somewhere,'  and  refusing  to  give  him  a  morsel.  No, 
no,  it  must  be  they  do  not  want  us  to  go  .to  heaven, 
for  if  they  wanted  us  to  go,  they  would  surely  come 
and  tell  us.  The  white  man's  heart  is  a  strange 
heart,  and  if  they  are  Christians,  I  wonder  what  they 
say  to  themselves  to  quiet  their  consciences,  when 
they  know  how  our  people  are  dying  in  darkness." 

This  is  the  conversation,  and  when  it  ended  they 
came  and  asked  me  why  people  in  America  were  un- 
willing to  have  the  heathen  go  to  heaven.  I  said, 
*'  They  are  not  unwilling."  "  Why,  then,"  they 
asked,  "  did  our  fathers  die  in  darkness  ?  Why  are 
so  many  dying  now  in  darkness  ?  What  are  their 
prayers  and  money  ?  Why  don't  they  come  them- 
selves? If  our  black  people  saw  a  man  who  was 
going  to  be  drowned  in  a  river,  we  would  go  our- 
selves and  tell  him  his  danger.  We  would  not  kneel 
down  and  pray  for  him,  we  would  not  pull  out  pay 
and  say,  '  if  somebody  can  be  found  to  go,  we  will 
give  him  this.'  What  kind  of  hearts  have  tbey,  those 
Christians  in  America  ?" 

I  told  them  I  could  not  answer  them,  for  I  was 
unable  to  do  so,  but  I  write  now  to  you,  and  as  you 
see  others,  please  ask  them  to  tell  me  what  to  say  the 
next  time  I  am  asked  such  questions.    I  am  not  writ- 


72  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

ing  a  newspaper  article,  I  am  in  earnest,  and  I  want 
some  one  to  answer  the  many  such  questions,  for  as 
God  is  my  witness,  I  do  not  know  what  to  answer 
I  am  speechless." 

APPEAL  TO  STUDENTS. 

June,  1867. 

My  dear  Feiend, — Far  off  in  this  out-of-the-way 
part  of  the  world  I  have  been  reading  in  a  paper 
from  home  the  appeal  for  more  missionaries,  and  if 
I  could  be  two  persons  instead  of  one,  I  should  send 
one-half,  or,  perhaps,  I  should  say,  go  one-half^  with 
the  greatest  possible  speed  to  America.  I  believe  if 
I  could  see  some  of  those  young  people  who  are  so 
in  need  of  rousing  uj),  and  so  little  inclined  to  be 
roused,  I  could  speak  words  to  them  which  would 
move  them.  As  it  is,  I  cannot  go,  for  even  the  half 
of  me  would  count  now,  our  number  is  so  small. 

Therefore  I  take  a  pen  ;  poor,  miserable  substitute, 
especially  when  it  is  used  to  write  words  which  come 
from  a  head  and  body  quite  tired  out.  The  heart,  I 
am  happy  to  say,  is  warm;  but  alas,  for  us  poor 
mortals  !  The  body  affects  the  head  or  mind,  and  I 
cannot  find  a  time  when  I  am  really  rested  so  as  to 
write  with  the  might  and  earnestness  I  desire. 

But  Avhat  I  can  say  I  will  say  to  you,  and  through 
you  to  the  others.     I  can  just  see  them  now  ! 

My  dear  friends,  I  know  how  your  time  is  all  filled 
up ;  that  you  liave  your  studies,  your  Sabbath  schools, 
your  prayer  meetings  and  missionary  meetings.  And 
when  the  subject  of  missions  is  spoken  of,  gxcyj  one, 


m  ZULU  LAND.  *JZ 

perhaps,  or  it  may  be  only  a  part  of  you,  look  into 
your  hearts,  and  either  you  see  a  particular  reason 
why  you  cannot  go,  or  else  you  are  waiting  for  an 
"  inward  call." 

I  can  give  you  an  outward  call,  and  I  would  to 
God  I  had  the  power  to  give  you  an  inward  call  as 
well.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  word ;  I  believe  it  is 
made  to  be  a  sort  of  excuse  by  those  who  can  find 
no  ocher.  If  people  have  fathers  or  mothers,  farms 
or  merchandise  to  plead  as  a  reason,  it  answers  their 
purpose,  and  those  who  have  not  these  have  found 
an  expression,  now  become  a  common  phrase,  "  an 
inward  call." 

ISTo,  we  do  not  wait  for  an  inward  call  for  any- 
thing we  like  to  do  !  I  need  say  no  more  of  this  ; 
but  I  fear  me  much  it  will  be  a  poor  excuse  in  the 
presence  of  God  at  last. 

I  wish  we  had  a  new  word  for  "  missionaries  "  and 
"missions,"  something  that  would  attract  people's 
attention,  something  which  they  had  not  talked  of 
and  harped  upon  in  a  humdrum  way  for  years. 

Missionary  does  not  mean  sickness  nor  death,  as 
some  suppose,  nor  does  it  mean  starvation  and 
bodily  suffering,  as  others  think.  It  does  not  mean 
angels,  for  they  are  just  mortal  beings,  very  mortal 
some  of  them,  although  I  believe  some  people  in 
America  think  missionaries  must  be  angels  !  It  does 
not  mean,  to  grown  people,  give  every  penny  you 
can  spare ;  and  to  children,  go  without  your  cake 
and  your  new  hat  and  give  your  money.  Peopla 
mix  in  all  these  with  the  word  missionary^  and  there- 
fore I  want  a  new  word. 
4 


74  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

If  I  say  we  want  a  missionary,  I  do  not  mean  a 
person  to  die  or  to  fall  ill,  or  to  suffer  from  hunger 
or  heat  or  cold.  I  do  not  mean  we  want  an  angel 
or  a  perfect  man,  nor  would  we  rob  any  of  the 
things  they  do  not  want  to  give  up.  We  w^ant  some 
men ;  true,  living  men  ;  good,  pleasant,  cheerful  men ; 
full  of  fun,  if  you  please,  it  will  help  them,  this  same 
fun  !  We  want  men ;  if  they  know  a  good  deal,  so 
far  well;  if  they  can  sing,  so  much  the  better;  if 
they  are  refined,  well  educated,  yes,  learned,  it  will 
all  come  in  use  and  be  so  much  the  better. 

There,  I  have  told  you  what  we  want;  now  as  to 
the  reason  why. 

Not  a  week  passes  but  I  see  people,  or  hear  of 
them,  asking,  calling,  begging  for  some  one  to  teach 
them.  It  is  very  easy  to  moralize  on  the  other 
side  of  the  ocean  and  consider  pros  and  cons;  but 
it  is  hard,  fearfully  hard,  to  see  a  man  begging  for 
teaching  Avhich  may  save  his  soul,  begging  for  it  for 
himself  and  his  people ;  it  is  hard  to  say,  No ;  as  it 
were  to  say,  "  Go  and  die  all  of  you,  there  is  no 
mansion  in  heaven  for  you,  or,  at  least,  no  one  who 
is  willing  to  tell  you  the  way  there."  They  think 
white  people  are  selfish,  and  1  think  it  is  true !  We 
must  be  a  selfish  race  or  surely  so  many  thousands 
would  not  call  and  be  refused. 

Last  week  I  heard  of  two  African  chiefs — this 
very  moment  I  know  of  six  African  chiefs,  some  im- 
portant chiefs,  some  less  so,  Avho  wish  their  people 
to  be  taught  and  cannot  find  any  one  willing  to  teaoh 
them. 

I  do  not  stop  to  argue  the  question  of  "  enough 


m  ZULU  LAND.  75 

to  do  at  home."  To  be  sure  there  is,  who  ever  dis- 
puted that  ?  But  there  are  enough  for  home  and 
also  for  us.  Besides,  you  know  how  may  congrega- 
tions are  composed  of  a  few  people  who  have  heard 
of  Christ  from  their  infancy ;  do  they  call  you  more 
loudly  than  the  thousands  around  these  chiefs  who 
know  no  way  to  heaven,  no  Saviour  ? 

I  am  not  a  person  of  "  one  idea ;"  missionaries  are 
supposed  to  be  so,  but  many  are  not,  and  I  am  not 
for  one.  I  know  all  about  America,  from  its 
wealthiest  churches  in  cities  down  to  the  city's 
lowest  dens  of  misery.  I  know  the  pretty  country 
villages  and  their  Sabbaths.  I  have  seen  the  West- 
ern country  and  its  needs,  and  the  slaves  and 
heathenism  of  the  South.  I  knew  all  these  welh^  I 
pray  for  them  when  I  pray.  You  cannot  say  I  am 
a  person  of  one  idea.  I  have  taught  in  all  these 
places,  and  have,  with  the  help  of  the  Father  wiio  is 
over  all,  left  in  them  those  whom  I  led  to  a  Saviour ; 
but  I  never  for  a  moment  regretted  leaving  them, 
7iever. 

My  letter  is  growing  too  long,  but  I  want  to  tell 
you  a  story  and  then  I  will  stop.  When  I  was 
traveling  a  short  time  ago,  I  met  a  native  man,  and 
seeing  he  was  a  Christian,  I  inquired  his  histoiy. 
It  seemed  he  was  a  great  man,  and  had  in  his  home 
great  riches  and  much  power.  He  heard  the  preach- 
ing of  some  one,  I  have  forgotten  whom,  and  became 
a  Christian.  After  he  learned  to  read  his  Bible  he 
said  he  saw  the  words,  "  Son  of  man  I  have  set  thee 
a  watchman.  If  I  say  unto  the  wicked,  Thou  shalt 
surely  die,  and  thou  givest  him  not  warning,  nor 


76  CHJIISTIAN  WOUK. 

speakest  to  warn  the  cricked  from  his  wicked  way 
to  save  his  life;  the  same  wicked  man  shall  die  in 
his  iniquity,  but  his  blood  will  I  require  at  thy 
hand." 

This  made  him  see  that  he  could  not  settle  down 
quietly  and  leave  his  people  untaught.  His  friends 
surrounded  him,  urged,  begged  and  even  tried  to 
force  him  to  remain  at  home.  He  said  "  No  "  to  all, 
and  went  his  way.  He  forfeited  his  power,  his 
wealth,  his  joys  and  home,  and  taking  his  Bible  he 
went  forth.  When  asked  if  he  carried  no  gun,  he 
said  "  Yes,  and  it  has  two  barrels.  My  gun  is  my 
Bible,  with  the  Old  and  New  Testaments." 

You  may  smile  at  his  sacrifice  and  say  it  is  nothing 
compared  to  what  one  gives  up  who  leaves  America. 
Say  so,  if  you  choose.  In  my  mind  he  gave  up 
more  than  any  of  us  did  or  could.  He  went  fiir  and 
wide,  and  hundreds  believed  through  his  teachings ; 
and  he  is  traveling  still  and  teaching  still,  eating 
such  food  as  is  given  him,  and  forgetting  all  things 
in  his  love  for  God  and  his  fellow-men. 

Are  you  and  your  friends  behind  this  poor,  igno- 
rant African  ?  Cannot  the  text  that  gave  him  such 
zeal  stir  you  up  ?  or  must  it  be  that  he  and  such  as 
he  are  to  shine  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  while 
Christians  from  the  land  of  light,  America,  if  they 
enter  heaven  at  all,  will  be  saved  so  as  by  fire,  and 
be  tried  by  the  God  who  has  said,  "  If  ye  speak 

NOT  TO  WARN  THE  WICKED,  AXD  HE  DIE  IX  HIS 
SINS,  HIS    BLOOD    WILL    I    REQUIRE    AT    YOUR    HAND." 


m  ZULU  LAND.  77 

AN  AFRICAIV  CHRISTMAS  DAT. 

CuEiSTMAS  is  just  over,  and  we  rejoiced  in  a  cool 
day.  We  really  ouiiht  to  keep  it  in  June,  for  pre- 
parations made  when  the  thermometer  is  at  90  de- 
grees, are  any  thing  but  comfortable.  However, 
the  day  was  cool,  and  in  the  morning  we  set  up  the 
tree  in  the  chapel,  hung  it,  and  put  the  bananas, 
cakes  and  peaches  on  tables,  as  we  do  every  year. 

The  charm  of  this  Christmas  was  the  number  of 
heathen  parents  present.  One  man  with  a  large 
kraal,  who  used  to  be  very  hostile,  came  up  and 
spoke  to  me,  and  I  gave  him  some  cake ;  and  all 
the  parents  seemed  to  enjoy  so  much  their  children's 
pleasure. 

Some  brought  their  children,  and  slept  at  the 
station,  so  as  to  be  here  in  the  evening. 

Five  wagons  went,  one  to  each  school,  and  about 
one  o'clock  they  came  trooping  in,  from  different 
directions ;  the  children  got  cut,  and  the  teachers 
placed  them  in  rows,  two  and  two.  The  procession 
must  have  been  an  eighth  of  a  mile,  around  the 
orange  trees  to  the  chapel. 

First  the  fourteen  singers,  girls  in  white  dresses, 
red  and  w^hite  handkerchiefs,  and  black  ribbons 
around  the  head.  They  looked  very  nicely.  Then 
the  station  children,  and  then  the  first  school — those 
who  have  been  taught  longest,  and  are  most  civiliz- 
ed. Then  the  second  school,  the  largest.  Then 
another,  the  nicest,  and  following  them  the  two 
new  schools. 

I  have  never  seen  such  a  change  in  the  heathen, 


78  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

as  this  year,  and  the  Amakohva  (Christians)  say, 
al!  over  the  country  the  kraals  are  singing  hymns. 
Music  is  such  a  blessing  to  us. 

The  doors  were  opened,  and  the  procession  moved 
into  the  chapel ;  then  in  poured  the  station  people, 
and  the  heathen.  I  think  tliore  were  seven  hundred 
altogether.  The  station  children  sang  twice^  one  a 
native  hymn,  and  the  other  "Marching  along"  in 
English.  Two  other  schools  sang  songs,  with  clap- 
ping of  hands,  and  some  had  exercises,  which  they 
did  very  well. 

But  the  children  of  G 's  school  bore  off  the 

palm,  with  one  of  the  songs  of  our  war,  to  some 
lines  which  I  made  for  them. 

Mr.  G.  made  a  grand  speech.  He  had  a  rattle 
which  he  shook,  and  he  said,  "  When  we  are  babies, 
we  do  this,  and  we  say,  ABC.  Then  we  go  on  and 
learn  more  and  more,  and  we  get  as  far  as  this, " — 
and  he  blew  a  whistle ;  *'  then  we  advance  step  by 
step."  and  he  sounded  one  toy  after  another,  ending 
with  the  little  French  tops,  as  the  summit  of  civili- 
zation. So  he  kept  their  attention  as  he  talked  to 
them. 

Then  the  toys  were  distributed,  and  we  had  our 
usual  Christmas  din,  when  every  child  who  had 
a  toy  of  any  kind,  that  would  make  a  noise,  sound- 
ed it  at  once,  their  gray  haired  missionary  leading 
the  way,  and  all  laughing  together.  The  cakes  and 
fruit  were  then  distributed,  and  all  went  home  hap- 
py and  content. 

In  the  evening  we  had  our  magic  lattcrn  arranged. 
Tables  stood  in  front  of  the  screen,   with  shirts, 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  79 

hats,  &c.,  on  one,  and  paper  bags  containing  fruit 
find  cakes  on  the  oth^.-r.  At  seven  the  bell  ranir, 
and  the  people  came,  dressed  in  their  Sunday's 
best. 

The  young  men  sat  in  front,  bass  and  tenor  sepa 
rate,  and  the  girls  on  one  side,  for  the  air  and  alto. 
Tlie  parents  and  the  people  sat  back  a  little,  and 
there  may  have  been  four  hundred  present.  We 
quite  pride  ourselves  on  our  singing,  as  there  are 
some  very  fine  voices,  and  these  young  men  sing  by 
note.  We  opened  with  an  anthem,  "  The  Lord  is 
in  his  Holy  Temple.  "  Then  the  lights  were  extin- 
guished, and  the  pictures  were  shown  them.  We 
were  amusel  at  some  of  their  criticisms,  especially 
of  Scripture  scenes.  Many  of  them  are  well  real  in 
the  Scripturt  s,  and  their  criticisms  were  very  just. 

When  the  pictures  were  disposed  of,  and  much 
they  enjoyed  them,  they  sang,  "Holy  is  the  Lord 
God  ofSabaoth." 

Then  the  presents  were  distributed,  shirts,  jackets, 
knives,  writing  cases,  and  so  on,  for  the  young 
men  ;  and  for  the  girls,  work  boxes,  scissors,  collars 
handkerchiefs,  &c.,  and  then  two  of  the  young  men 
gave  out  the  bags  of  fruit  and  cakes,  among  all  in 
the  chapel. 

There  are  about  a  hundred  and  ten  young  men 
altogether. 

Our  evening  closed  with  an  anthem,  "Hosannah,  " 
from  Carraina  Sacra,  and  wq  all  went  home  happy, 
thinking  it  the  best  Christmas  w^e  ever  had. 


It  is  hardly  necessary,  to  plead  for  the  wisdom 


80  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

of  this  yearly  festival,  -when  we  remember  the  Di 
vine  institution  of  three  feasts  in  tlie  year,  for  a 
people  just  emerging  from  slavery  and  barbaiism. 

The  Christmas  feast  is  one  looked  forward  to  for 
months  by  those  who  have  so  few  pleasures,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  gifts  are  articles  of  clothing 
which  they  would  receive  at  any  rate.  The  rest 
have  been  given  chiefly  by  a  single  friend  in 
America. 

To  the  poor  little  girl,  who  has  contented  herself 
with  a  bit  of  stick  wrapped  in  leaves,  as  the  sem- 
blance of  a  doll,  the  possession  of  a  real  doll  of  the 
simplest  description,  is  a  happiness  for  months. 

These  people,  of  course,  give  up  their  heathen  festi- 
vals, yet  here  they  have  something  to  mark  their 
dull  and  barren  lives.  And  the  fruit  of  the  efforts, 
and  the  encouragement,  are  seen  in  the  presence 
of  the  heathen  parents,  and  their  wonder  and  de- 
light at  what  they  see. 

When  we  remember,  that  to  them  a  book  is  an 
object  of  superstitious  dread,  a  thing  which  they  fear 
even  to  look  at,  we  can  see  how  great  is  this  victo- 
ry over  their  fears.  So  are  they  drawn  to  the  festi- 
val, and  so  induced  to  bring  their  children  for 
Christian  training. — Editor. 


UNEXPECTED  FRUITS. 

April,  1868. 
I  went  this  afternoon  to  see  an  old  heathen  man. 
I    had  always  thought    him  a   thorough   heathen, 
although  some  of  his  children  are  Christians,  and  he 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  81 

has  given  his  youngest  boy,  a  child  of  five,  to  \x^ 
to  be  taught  in  the  schools. 

I  found  him  lung  out  on  the  ground,  his  head  on 
a  log,  the  n  stive  pillow.  He  was  in  great  pain, 
and  his  illness  seemed  to  be  acute  rheumatism.  I 
have  no  doubt,  if  he  could  be  properly  cared  for,  he 
might  get  well,  but  there  as  he  is,  I  fear  his  pros- 
pects are  small.  The  damp  ground,  and  a  wooden 
pillow,  are  hardly  the  best  treatment  for  rheumatism  ! 

We  talked  of  his  children,  and  his  wishes  con- 
cerning them,  and  he  said  he  was  ready  to  die,  and 
go  to  his  son  ;  who  has  recently  died.  That  poor 
old  heathen  man  lay  there  in  his  pain,  and  spoke  so 
of  God,  and  of  Heaven,  that  I  felt  "truly  God  is  in 
this  place,  though  we  knew  it  not.  " 

He  asked  to  be  prayed  with,  and  his  heart  seemed 
quiet,  and  his  soul  peaceful,  while  his  greatest  de- 
sire for  his  children  was  to  leave  them  to  live  as 
Christians.  It  made  me  feel  more  and  more — '•  In 
the  morning  we  sow  the  seed,  and  know  not  which 
shall  prosper,  this  or  that.  " 

Those  only  who  know  Zulu  customs  and  habits 
of  thought,  can  fully  understand  the  proof  here 
given  of  the  power  of  Christian  faith. 

The  Zulus  fear  death,  have  the  utmost  repug- 
nance to  touching  a  dead  body,  hurry  them  out  ot 
their  sight,  or  bury  tiiem  on  the  spot,  and  remove 
the  kraal  to  some  other  place. 

So  when  a  man  or  woman  can  talk  of  dying,  or  speak 
of  the  death  of  a  dear  friend,  or  go  to  the  grave  to 
weep,  it  is  a  proof  of  a  great  victory  over  superstition. 


82  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

So  also  was  it  when  one  who  was  in  tronhlo 
went  to  the  grave  of  the  missionary  to  weep  and 
pray,  and  another  said,  "  I  have  his  picture  hung 
in  my  room,  and  I  have  gotten  a  piece  of  glass  over 
it,  to  keep  it  clean.  But  when  I  often  love  to  look 
at  it,  I  wonder  to  think  of  the  time,  wlien  I  was  a 
boy  in  a  kraal,  and  to  speak,  or  look,  or  think  of  a 
l^erson  who  was  dead,  was  witchcraft  and  death  to 
us,  and  we  were  all  terribly  afraid.  And  now 
when  I  get  my  picture  taken,  the  heathen  think  I'll 
surely  die  next  week.  " — Editor. 

ARE  MISSIONS  A  HUMBUG? 

If  I  could  collect  a  crowd  of  people  in  America 
— those  who  talk  of  missions,  some  favorably  and 
some  unfavorably,  I  should  like  to  talk  to  them ; 
nay,  I  should  feel  like  scolding  them,  perhaps. 
Of  course,  scolding  would  not  "hurt  them," 
as  children  say,  for  I  have  no  authority  over  people 
in  America ;  it  might  not  trouble  them  in  any  way, 
but  it  might  open  their  eyes,  or  perhaps  help  them 
to  use  their  common  sense,  which  they  seem  to  take 
leave  of  whenever  they  see  the  word  "missions." 

Some  who  are  careless,  s.iy  that  missions  are  a 
humbug,  to  use  a  homely  phrase;  and  those  who 
are  a  little  too  good  to  use  that  word,  say  they  are 
of  "  no  use, "  "  a  waste  of  time,  and  life,  and  money,  " 
and  other  like  gently  spoken  phrases. 

Happily,  missions  will  go  on,  no  matter  what  tliey 
think  or  say,  and  we  do  not  know  that  their  words 
can  hurt  the  missions ;  but  they  do  hurt  the  people 
who  talk  thus. 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  83 

Let  us  consider.  You  read  the  Missionary  Herald^ 
or  any  report  of  missions,  and  you  see,  "  Cliureh 
members,  24,"  or  "church  members,  36,"  etc.,  etc., 
and  you  comment  in  this  wise :  "Now,  that  man  has 
beeiT  in  tliat  place  thirtj'"  years,  and  his  church  l)as 
only  thirty  members.  Oh,  he  might  have  done  so 
much  more  at  home  ! "  And  you  say  "  Oh  !  "  and 
"Ah!"  and  hardly  know  what  you  mean,  except 
that  you  feel  less  encouraged  about  missions. 

Then  some  missionaries  who  are  good,  but  lack 
what  we  call  pluck,  answer  these  speeches  by  dwel- 
ling on  the  value  of  one  soul,  and  how  a  life  is  well 
spent  that  brings  salvation  even  to  that  one.  This 
is  all  true  in  one  sense,  but  I  maintain  that  a  man 
has  no  need  to  have  but  one  soul ;  so  that  is  not  the 
way  in  which  I  respond  to  your  criticisms  on  the 
small  number  of  church  members. 

Look  at  New  York !  See  the  number  of  mem- 
bers in  the  churches  there !  Do  you  su})pose  in 
that  gre-at  city  they  alone  are  to  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ?  If  I  tell  you  of  the  many  whom  I  have 
seen,  members  of  \\o  visible  church,  yet  with  hearts 
full  of  love  to  Christ,  you  would  be  astonished.  It 
is  not  for  us  to  judge;  God  knows  the  hearts;  and 
in  New  York,  as  elsewhere,  there  are  many  who 
surely  are  his  own  children,  and  yet  not  counted 
members  of  any  churcti  or  congregation  there. 

If  it  be  so  in  America,  how  much  more  in  our 
part  of  the  world,  where  among  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  people  there  is  only  one  pastor.  I  count 
the  church-membership  as  a  very  small  part  of  the 
success  of  a  missionary. 


84  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

If  you  spent  a  week  among  the  heathen,  and  a 
week  at  one  of  the  stations,  you  would  see  how 
much  there  is  besides  church-membership  to  be 
counted.  As  I  go  about  day  by  day,  teacliing, 
talking,  and  trying  to  influence  the  people,  I  learn 
to  be  thankful  for  every  sign,  even  if  it  be  a  sign  no 
larger  than  a  man's  hand. 

Go  by  a  house  in  the  afternoon ;  there  sits  a  boy 
with  a  book.  Now,  that  boy  has  been  a  special 
enemy  to  books  and  everything  connected  with 
them.  There  is  your  first  sign  of  success.  You 
may  have  hope  of  that  boy ;  he  is  almost  sure  to  do 
well. 

Here  is  a  girl.  She  has  been  as  wild  as  a  hawk; 
and,  in  behavior,  the  hawk  had  the  advantage. 
Somehow  a  change  has  come  over  her  face  this  past 
week.  She  speaks  more  gently,  too.  Here  again 
are  first  signs  of  success. 

Go  by  the  houses  in  the  village  at  sunset,  and  in 
some  you  hear  the  voice  of  prayer,  in  others  the 
evening  hymn.  In  each  house  is  a  family,  with  the 
servants,  and  perhaps  some  relatives  there  for  a  short 
time.  Perhaps  only  two  or  three  of  those  in  the 
circle  at  family  worship  are  church  members.  Is 
it  nothing,  then,  that  the  family  altar  is  there  ? 
The  children  are  growing  up,  the  servants  are  hear- 
ing, and  after  their  time  of  service  is  over,  they  will 
return  to  their  far-off  relatives  and  tell  of  these 
things.     Is  all  this  nothing  ? 

I  was  coming  home  the  other  afternoon,  tired,  and 
feeling  a  little  "  blue, "  as  you  might  call  it,  when 
out  of  a  door  came  a  little  boy  and  a  girl  about  three 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  85 

years  old.  They  had  been  playing,  and  the  mother 
had  just  given  them  a  piece  of  meat,  and  some  boil- 
ed corn  in  a  cup.  They  ran  out,  hand  in  hand,  one 
carrying  the  meat  and  the  other  the  corn,  and  when 
they  came  to  a  flat  place  in  the  grass  they  sat  down ; 
then  each  folded  his  hands  solemnly,  and  the  little 
boy  said,  in  his  broken,  childish  talk,  *'  Now,  Tatu, 
you  ask  a  blessing  of  God;"  and  when  that  was 
done  they  went  on  eating  their  dinner. 

Are  all  these  things  nothing?  Yes,  small  as  they 
seem,  they  show  that  God's  light  is  spreading ;  and 
I  hear  from  all  over  the  country  of  those  who  die 
with  this  testimony :  "  God  is  the  Lord ;  "  and  yet 
their  names  are  recorded  on  no  church  roll,  are 
printed  in  no  missionary  publication.  Truly  do  I 
believe  that  from  heathen  lands,  hundreds  will  be 
found  written  as  God's  children,  who  on  earth  were 
not  known;  and  in  this  hope  we  "sow  beside  all 
waters. " 

O,  ye  who  dare  to  call  missions  "humbug,"  or 
you  who,  being  Christians  yourselves,  gently  talk  of 
*' wasted  time  and  money,"  wait  until  the  last  great 
day  before  you  judge  us  or  our  work.  Then,  as  if  a 
seal  was  broken,  and  the  voice  of  an  angel  had  been 
heard,  saying,  "come  and  see,"  look,  and  if  you 
dare  to  say  so,  pronounce  our  lives  wasted,  our  work 
in  vain. 

SHALL  TVE  DO  MORE  OR  LESS  ? 

I  carry  a  heavy  heart  most  of  the  time,  "  because 
of  the  captivity  of  my  people,  "  captivity  in  sin,  and 
darkness,  and  death. 


86  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

I  had  thon2:ht  our  friends  in  America  might  he 
moved  at  our  need,  but  the  words  and  appeals  seem 
noihino;.  Whereas  at  first  I  lived  in  hope,  that  some 
day  help  mio:ht  come  to  us,  I  now  despair  of  it,  and 
simply  work  on  from  day  to  day.  Letters  tell  of  no 
one  cominof,  in  all  these  j'ears,  and  not  only  so,  but 
we  are  unable  to  get  money,  to  use  our  native 
agency. 

Think  of  being  obliged  to  contract  our  work,  and 
dismiss  native  teachers,  because  there  is  nothing  to 
pay  them  with. 

Why  don't  people  help  us?  and  instead  of  build- 
ing their  fine  churches  with  dollars  by  the  thousand, 
let  them  see  one  of  us,  sitting  on  a  stump  of  a  tree  in 
an  old  grass  hut,  and  send  something  here  to  help. 

We  cannot  send  people  ofl*  who  come  to  be  taught. 
Let  them  put  less  decoration  on  their  fine  churches 
and  send  money  to  put  a  dress  on  a  little  naked 
child.  You  do  not  know  how  it  sounds  to  read  of 
all  these  fine  things,  and  then  to  think  how  you  can 
"screw"  and  contrive,  to  make  money  hold  out  for 
one  more  scholar. 

Or  you  are  just  going  to  get  something,  which 
seems  absolutely  needful,  when  a  b  >y  comes  twenty 
miles,  and  begs  to  stay  and  be  taught.  You  can't 
turn  him  away;  and  so  make  him  some  clothes,  and 
go  without  the  things  so  much  needed. 

Then  as  you  hear  him  praying  at  nights,  you  sleep 
all  the  happier  for  the  thought  of  him. 

I  wish  there  were  time  to  tell  all  tlie  wonderful 
stories  that  come,  and  of  so  many  deathbeds  I  see 
lighted  with  the  hope  of  Heaven.     The  little  hut 


m  ZULU  LAND.  87 

and  the  darkness  are  forgotten,  in  the  joy  of  these 
things. 

Wiil  they  not  help  us  ?  We  can  not  turn  people 
away.  When  our  friends  are  building  such  houses 
and  churches,  and  we  only  ask  for  the  log  of  a  tree 
to  sit  upon  ?  Now  it  is  the  day  time,  the  time  to 
work,  and  we  do  not  know  when  we  may  be  unable 
to  do  more. 


The  Story  of  Jim  was  written  for  private  circu- 
lation only,  since  it  is  always  unwise  to  print  any 
history  which  may  in  a  \q\v  mouths  go  back  and  be 
read  by  the  subject  of  it. 

But  as  the  story  was  printed  by  a  person  into  whose 
hands  a  MS.  copy  fell,  and  who  knew  the  expressed 
wishes  of  the  writer,  it  was  no  longer  possible  to 
keep  it  out  of  circulation. 

A  single  word  of  explanation  is  needed.  The 
term  "Mother"  is  merely  a  title  of  respect,  as 
Teacher  or  Madam  would  be. 

THE  STORY  OF  JIM. 

T  have  written  to  you  from  time  to  time  of  Jim 
and  his  history  ;  but  as  to-day  seems  a  marked  day 
to  me  in  the  long- waited -for  answe^^  to  prayer  in  re- 
spect to  him,  I  think  I  will  write  his  history  in  one 
letter  that  you  can  show  to  others,  and  perhaps  it 
may  help  them.  The  words  which  are  in  my  heart 
to-day  are  these,  '•  that  men  ought  always  to  pray 
and  not  to  faint." 

While  I  have  prayed  and  waited  these  long 
months  I  have  sometimes  nearly  "fainted,"  and  al- 
most thought  it  was  in  vain,  but  to-day  1  stand  still 


88  CnmSTIAN  WORK 

and  see  the  salvation  of  God.     It  was  the  first  week 

after   ^Ir.   L died   that   in    Sunday-school  one 

afternoon,  I  was  astonished  at  the  magnificent  voice 
of  some  one  in  chapel.  It  was  a  voice  that  carried 
me  back  to  New  York  and  the  concerts  in  the  Acad- 
emy of  Music,  when  some  great  singer  came  from 
Europe.  I  listened  in  astonishment  at  such  a  voice 
there,  and  it  almost  made  me  fancy  myself  at  home 
again.  Looking  to  see  whence  it  came,  I  saw  a 
young  man,  perhaps  twenty-five  years  old.  His 
face  was  not  as  good-looking  as  those  of  many  of 
our  natives,  but  his  forehead  was  so  large  and  full, 
that  a  stranger  would  say  he  must  have  more  brains 
than  most  people,  and  altogether  there  was  some- 
thing striking  in  his  appearance. 

When  we  came  out  I  inquired  who  he  was,  and 
they  told  me  he  was  called  Jim,  and  was  a  very 
hard-hearted  person  ;  or,  as  we  should  say  in  En- 
glish, a  wild,  hard  man. 

The  next  day  I  called  the  young  men  to  begin 
their  school,  and  in  the  evening  after  nearly  all  the 
others  had  come  in,  the  door  opened  and  he  ap- 
peared. I  spoke  to  him  and  he  seemed  pleased, 
said  he  knew  how  to  read  and  write,  had  taught  him- 
self, but  he  was  anxious  to  learn  arithmetic  and 
many  things.  His  home  was  three  miles  away,  but 
as  school  was  in  the  evening,  he  would  come  over 
every  day,  and  stay  with  a  friend  at  night,  so  as  to 
attend.  So  night  after  night  he  came  and  advanced 
rapidly  in  whatever  they  were  all  learning. 

I  selected  some  of  the  best  readers  to  form  into  a 
Bible  class  for  Sabbath  evenings,  and  when  I  was 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  89 

talking  to  some  of  the  young  men  I  casually  said, 
Jim  was  one  of  those  st-lected  for  this  class.  They 
began  to  laugh  and  said,  "He  won't  come.  Why, 
he  knows  the  Bible  from  beginning  to  end,  and  there 
is  not  a  person,  Christian  or  even  missionary,  who 
can  reason  with  him  ;  he  has  too  much  brains  to  be 
good,  and  besides  he  does  not  think  much  of  ivomen 
for  teachers." 

Time  passed  on  and  I  became  more  and  more  in- 
terested in  my  scholars,  and  saw  them  improve  in 
every  way.  With  Jim,  however,  I  continued  just  in 
the  place  where  I  began,  lie  was  always  at  school, 
always  interested,  bat  I  had  no  more  influence  over 
him  than  I  have  this  moment  over  the  Emperor  of 
France.  The  universal  opinion  was  that  in  religious 
matters  he  was  as  learned  as  any  white  man,  and 
was  an  intelligent,  thoroughly-studied,  and  open  skep- 
tic, perhaps  infidel. 

At  this  time  the  religious  interest  appeared  amongst 
us,  and  you  know  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
young  men  became  Christians  ;  al!  of  his  class  with- 
in a  few  weeks  of  each  other.  W^ith  all  my  efforts 
to  see  him,  I  never  could  succeed  in  meeting  him, 
excepting  his  regular  attendance  at  school.  I  heard 
of  his  boasting  to  one  of  the  people  that  if  I  were 
not  a  woman,  he  should  like  to  reason  with  me,  for 
he  knew  that  he  could  prove  to  me  from  the  Bible 
many  things,  and  that  if  it  were  not  for  making  me 
feel  badly,  he  should  like  to  try. 

One  Sabbath  evening  in  our  Bible  class  the  Spirit 
was  very  near  us  ;  it  was  at  these  times  when  one 
and  another  had  come  forward  to  ask  the  way  of 


90  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

salvation.  Of  the  ten,  I  bacl  hope  of  eight  as  being 
Christians.  On  this  Sabbath  evening  Jim  came  in 
for  the  first  time.  After  the  lesson  was  o\er,  they 
began  talking  among  themselves.  As  they  sat  in  a 
cii'cle  the  first  spoke,  and  said,  "  This  week  I  hope  I 
am  a  Christian."  The  second  also  spoke,  and  so  each 
in  turn  ;  the  class  showed  deep  feeling  and  there 
were  many  tears.  The  ninth  that  night  ex- 
pressed his  love  to  Christ  for  the  first  time,  and  Jim 
was  the  tenth. 

When  it  came  to  Jim  I  was  standing  near  him, 
and  I  turned  and  said,  "  Jim,  what  have  yon  to  say, 
yon  have  heard  the  others  speak?"  lie  did  not  an- 
swer, so  I  began  talking  to  him,  and  long  and  ear- 
nestly I  pleaded  with  him.  All  his  reply  was,  "  I 
•wish  you  would  stop  speaking,  I  do  not  love  Christ 
nor  believe  in  Him,  and  I  do  not  want  to  hear  any- 
thing more  about  it."  He  spoke  so  that  I  was  un- 
able to  keep  my  tears  from  flowing,  and  it  was  some 
time  before  I  could  become  calm.  Then  once  more 
I  told  him  how  he  was  doing,  he  who  knew  so  per- 
fectly the  plan  of  salvation,  and  how  tlie  Spirit 
would  be  grieved  away.  I  can  not  tell  all  I  said,  but 
if  I  ever  ])leaded  with  a  sinner  it  was  then,  and  every 
one  in  the  room  was  weeping  excej^t  himself  and  me.  I 
told  him  then  I  had  said  all  that  I  could,  all  that  there 
was  to  say,  and  that  from  that  night,  although  he 
might  see  me  daily,  I  never  again  should  speak  to 
him  on  this  subject  until  he  spoke  first,  that  there 
was  not  anything  to  say,  he  knew  it  all,  and  he  need 
not  fear  to  meet  me  again,  as  these  were  my  last 
words  ;  but  if  he  died  or  I  died,  he  was  to  remember 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  91 

that  I  had  been  faithful  with  him,  and  in  God's  sight. 
He  did  not  reply  except  by  saying,  "I  am  going 
home,"  and  he  rose  and  left  the  room. 

The  remaining  scholars  seemed  perfectly  thunder- 
struck, and  almost  heart-broken  that  he  should  have 
grieved  me  so,  and  then  we  joined  in  prayer  for  him, 
and  then  separated.  When  I  reached  vay  room  I 
could  not  sleep,  but  after  thinking  of  it  I  saw  but 
one  help,  that  was  to  pray  for  him,  for  except  in  God 
there  was  no  power  to  turn  him.  Then  and  there  I 
resolved  to  pray,  and  so  prayed  earnestly,  and  then 
I  felt  quiet,  and  could  sleep.  The  next  evening  he  was 
at  the  school  as  usual,  and  appeared  as  though  noth- 
ing had  happened.  Still,  as  I  watched  him,  it  seemed 
as  if  he  were  becoming  more  and  more  hardened. 
During  the  chapel  services  he  paid  no  attention 
in  pra^-er,  did  not  seem  to  listen  to  the  services, 
and  would  not  sing,  unless  at  a  time  he  particularly 
liked.  To  Sunday-school  he  would  not  come,  but 
came  sometimes  to  the  vestibule  and  sat  reading  his 
Bible  outside.  In  all  the  various  interests  of  the 
young  men  he  took  no  part,  and  kept  as  far  from 
me  as  possible.  He  was  constantly  having  discus- 
sions with  the  Christians  at  the  station,  and  always 
defeated  them,  and  from  the  Bible  he  could  so  rea- 
son against  what  the  missionaries  said,  that  if  a  man 
listened  to  him  he  could  almost  make  him  believe 
like  himself.  It  was  true  what  they  said  of  him, 
that  he  knew  the  Bible  in  all  parts,  chapter  and 
verse,  and  there  was  not  a  doctrine  or  a  fact  he  had 
not  read,  and  made  up  his  mind  what  it  meant. 

About  this  time  one  of  the  young  men  fell  into 


92  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

great  sin,  and  Jim  led  bim  on  deeper  by  bis  power 
of  reasoning  and  proving,  till  be  well-nigb  made 
sbipwreck  of  tbe  man,  wbose  mind  was  less  strong 
tban  bis,  so  tbat  be  was  unable  to  cope  witb  bim. 
]My  beart  was  very  mucb  discouraged  for  bim  at  tbis 
time,  and  my  prayer  was  well-nigb  "  fainting."  But 
a  few  weeks  after  I  needed  some  one  to  build  my 
scbool-bouse,  and  being  away,  I  wrote  to  bim,  asking 
bim  to  take  cbarge  of  it.  He  wrote  me  sucb  a  pleas- 
ant letter  in  reply,  tbat  it  seemed  to  encourage  and 
help  me.  He  seemed  so  unbke  all  tbe  otbere  in  tbis 
one  tbing,  tbe  caring  for  me  ;  all  tbe  otbers  bad  by 
degrees,  some  sooner,  some  later,  come  under  my  in- 
fluence. Tbey  would  Hsten  to  my  sligbtest  wish 
about  eveiytbing,  and  all  tbeir  concerns  were  known 
to  me.  He  laugbed  at  tbem  for  it,  and  wben  tbey 
were  kind  to  me,  Or  did  as  1  said,  or  told  me  tbeir 
troubles,  etc,  it  was  sure  to  bring  a  word  of  irony 
or  ridicule  from  bim.  Many  of  tbem  were  very  care- 
less at  first  regarding  tbeir  clotbes,  as  to  cleanliness 
or  rags,  but  soon  tbis  vanisbed.  I  could  not  bear  to 
see  Jim  so,  and  did  everything  to  persuade  him  to 
alter  ;  but  said  be,  "  Ob,  it  is  good  enough ;  I  like 
it,  and  tbat  is  enough  ;  mucb  obliged  to  you,  but  I 
do  not  wish  it  otherwise.*' 

As  I  said,  I  asked  lum  to  build,  and  on  my  return, 
as  I  w^as  obliged  to  go  to  the  place,  I  saw  more  of 
bim,  and  more  and  more  was  I  impressed  witb  tbe 
wonderful  power  be  might  exert  for  good  or  evil.  I 
found  then  for  the  first  time  that  I  was  beginning  to 
have  tbe  least  bit  of  his  regard.  One  day,  when,  in 
speaking  of  a  verse,  I  took  the  Greek  and  referred 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  93 

to  it,  he  seemed  to  think  if  I  was  a  icoman  I  knew 
something.  All  these  months  he  had  not  been  to 
Bible  class,  but  continued  regularly  at  evening 
school.  When  I  found  he  was  becoming  less  dis- 
tant, I  suggested  his  learning  to  sing  by  note,  as  he 
had  such  a  fine  voice,  and  when  he  had  learned, 
which  was  very  soon,  I  gave  him  charge  of  the  bass 
to  teach  the  others  at  our  evening  singings.  I  think 
it  was  soon  after  this  that  he  came  again  to  Bible 
clasB  one  evening,  but  as  he  said  something  which 
offended  one  of  the  othei-s,  he  told  me  the  next  day 
he  should  never  come  again. 

It  is  not  easy  for  me  to  tell  how  the  change  began, 
I  think  the  first  indications  were  more  attention  to  his 
dress.  I  no  longer  had  to  feel  sorry  to  see  one  who 
really  was  so  superior,  looking  worse  than  those  who 
were  not  fit  to  be  his  associates.  As  he  did  my 
work  I  kept  throwing  responsibility  on  him,  and 
making  him  feel  that  I  did  not  think  him  so  hardened 
as  others  did,  and  I  consulted  hira  a  great  deal  about 
many  thiiigs.  He  began  to  come  regularly  to  the 
Bible  class,  and  often  when  subjects  came  up  he 
would  come  to  me  during  the  week  and  talk  about 
them.  I  saw,  too,  by  degrees  his  tone  changed.  He 
no  longer  tried  to  dispute  everything,  to  argue  that 
prayer  was  of  no  use,  that  everybody  would  be  saved, 
and  dozens  of  other  such  ideas. 

In  our  frequent  talks  on  religious  subjects,  I  never 
spoke  to  him  of  himself,  and  only  from  his  general 
remarks  could  I  see  the  change  in  his  thoughts  and 
feehngs.  I  heard  also  from  a  boy  living  in  the  same 
house  that  "  Jim  had  prayers  with  them  all  every 


94  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

night,"  and  I  beard  of  his  praying  elsewhere.  I  saw 
his  conduct  in  chapel  so  different,  and  his  coming 
into  Sunday-school  and  every  other  meeting,  which 
before  he  never  regarded.  As  these  changes  took 
place  in  his  relations  to  others,  with  myself  he  became 
the  most  thoughtful  and  docile  of  all  my  pupils.  I 
could  not  say  "  I  wish  "  about  anything,  but  it  was 
done,  and  he  never  would  do  the  smallest  thing  with- 
out asking  me,  beginning  then  to  say  "mother," 
which  the  others  had  called  me  for  many  months.  I 
began  to  hear  the  people  talk  of  "  the  great  change 
in  Jim."  Now,  if  any  one  disputed  a  part  of  the 
Bible,  he  reasoned  and  convinced  them,  and  now, 
any  word  against  the  Bible  or  in  favor  of  evil  was 
taken  up  by  him,  and  the  objector  silenced.  I  asked 
him  if  he  would  take  my  Sunday  noon  Bible  class  of 
young  men,  and  the  next  Sunday  with  his  Bible  he 
came,  and  since  then  I  have  no  words  to  tell 
you  all  the  good  he  has  accomplished  with  that 
class. 

I  began  by  degrees  to  depend  on  him  to  help  me 
everywhere,  and  no  one  dared  say  anything  out  of 
the  way  when  he  was  near.  You  may  smile,  but  all 
this  time  he  was-  becoming  the  neatest  person  to  be 
seen  anywhere.  In  our  talks  of  the  Bible  he  never 
said  "  I  am  so,"  but  in  remarks  such  as,  "  we  find 
when  we  pray,"  or  other  words,  I  could  see  his  rapid 
growth  in  Christian  life  from  week  to  week. 

About  this  time  the  girl  to  whom  he  was  engaged, 
a  noble  Cliristian  girl,  came  to  me  one  day  and  in 
talking  said,  "  You  can  not  know  the  vrondevful 
change  in  Jim  ;  perhaps  you  remember  the  night  at 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  95 

Bible  class  so  long  ago,  wlien  yon  spoke  to  him  of 
himself.  He  came  home  early  ;  I  was  stopping  at 
John's,  where  he  lived.  He  came  in  and  t'lrew himself 
down.  We  said,  'Where  is  John?'  'At  school,'  he  an- 
swered. '  Why  did  you  come  home  first  ?  '  '  Hush,'  he 
called  out,  so  we  waited  until  John  came.  He  said  Jim 
had  talked  badly  to  yoii  and  broken  your  heart.  The 
next  day,  Jim  said,  '  You  had  talked  to  him  and  he 
could  overthrow  your  arguments,  but  he  would  not 
because  you  were  a  woman,  and  you  asked  him  if  he 
did  not  believe  ;  you  spoke  to  him  because  you  loved 
him  and  wanted  him  to  be  saved,  and  he  said  he 
would  not  be  talked  to  so,  he  did  not  believe  in 
Chnstian  love  at  all.'  "  "  To-day,"  added  she,  ''  I 
was  in  my  garden,  and  he  came  out,  and  sat  down 
and  said,  '  Do  you  remember  that  night  ? '  I  said 
*  Yes.'  Then  he  added,  '  Zita,  to-day  I  am  a  little 
child.  The  first  thing  that  conquered  me  was  our 
mother's  love.  I  learned  to  see  her  love  in  giving 
up  her  home  to  come  to  me  ;  from  that  I  learned 
the  love  of  Christ.  God  helping  me,  I  am  her  child 
till  death,  and  my  Saviour's  through  etei-nity.' " 

The  girl  was  speaking  with  tears  when  she  said, 
"I  always  loved  my  husband  for  his  greatness, 
but,  thank  God,  through  you  now  I  can  love  him  for 
everything." 

Since  Jim  began  to  teach,  the  people  ask  for  him 
to  teach  them,  as  "  he  knows  how  so  much  better 
than  others,"  and  his  time  has  been  much  occupied 
in  such  work.  Last  evening,  Ilnbyana,  one  of  our 
native  missionaiies,  came  and  preached  from  the 
text,  "  Come   over  and   help   us,"  a  very  powerfal 


96  CURISTIAN  WORK 

sermon  and  full  of  earnestness.  Tliis  morning  I  was 
"wriling  in  the  school-house  when  Jim  came  in.  It  is 
such  an  every-day  thing,  his  coming  now  to  see  if 
there  is  anything  for  him  to  do  to  help  me,  that  I 
thought  nothing  of  it.  He  sat  down  and  we  talked 
of  one  thing  and  another.  He  soon  said,  "  What  a 
splendid  sermon  we  had  last  night;  I  could  sit  all 
day  and  listen,  and  it  stirs  me  so."  I  said,  half  smil- 
ing, ''Why,  Jim,  why  don't  you  go  if  you  like  such 
words?"  He  replied,  "  I  shall  if  I  live  a  few  months 
longer."  I  looked  up  in  surprise  and  said,  "Are 
you  in  earnest  V  "Yes,  mother."  '*  Bat  I  heard  you 
say  some  time  ago,  nothing  would  induce  you  to  be  a 
missionary."  "  Yes,  you  have  heard  me  say  a  good 
many  other  things.  1  speak  first  now,  so  you  can  not 
say  you  recalled  your  words  of  that  Sunday  night  so 
long  ago;  I  came  to  tell  you  of  my  heart,  how  it  loves 
the  Saviour."  I  said,  "I  have  known  that  a  long 
time. '  "  Yes,  but  I  speak  first,  and  from  to-day  let 
us  talk  much,  and  as  I  said,  I  wait  to  prove  myself, 
for  my  heart  was  very  bad,  and  if  God  gives  me 
power,  before  long  I  shall  be  far  away  among 
the  heathen.  I  know  I  have  power,  I  know  I  am 
wise  in  the  Bible  and  in  its  truths,  and  if  I  have  a 
gift  from  God  I  shall  be  able  to  bring  many  to  love 
Him.  And  now  while  I  live,  I  pray  for  power  to  work 
here,  and  that  they  may  be  fitted  for  great  good  in 
this  world." 

It  is  useless  to  tell  you  all  the  words  we  spoke,  or 
how  when  he  sat  down  he  began  writing  off  the  music 
of  a  chant,  and  asked  me  to  try  it  with  him;  his 
voice  was  true  and  clear,  while  mine  trembled  with 


m  ZULU  LAND.  97 

the  great  joy  I  had  found  this  day.  And  now  while 
he  is  doing  his  work  among  the  sick  and  ignorant, 
who  was  aknost  a  Saul  in  evil,  and  will  be  a  Paul  to 
his  nation  in  good,  I  thank  my  God  for  not  having 
fainted,  and  if  I  could  speak  to  those  who  pray  long 
and  almost  faint  I  would  say  :  "  Men  ought  always 
to  pray  and  not  to  faint." 

JAMES  DUBE,  THE  CHIEF. 

It  would  seem  almost  an  honor  at  the  present 
day,  to  die  unsung,  to  escape  some  form  of  eu- 
logy in  print.  So  much  is  it  the  custom  to  praise 
the  dead,  that  it  hardly  matters  whether  they  are 
of  evil  or  good  report ;  all  are  alike  praised  and  glo- 
rified. 

And  yet  in  some  cases  it  is  hardly  possible  to  say 
too  much.  As  in  that  of  James  Dube,  the  Zulu, 
whose  history  may  now  be  told,  as  it  could  not  in  his 
life,  and  may  help  others  to  see  that  as  in  the  time  of 
Paul,  so  now  :  God  rules  and  leads,  and  overturns 
in  His  own  way. 

No  good  picture  can  ever  be  gotten  of  a  Zulu, 
else  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  look  upon  the  face 
of  this  noble  man — his  features  and  expression  so 
grand  and  intelligent,  his  eyes  dancing  with  fun,  his 
teeth  glistening  as  he  smiled,  always  cheerful  even  in 
adversity;  his  fine  figure,  over  six  feet  high,  showing 
him  to  be  a  chief  among  his  people,  a  veritable  noble 
man. 

Born  far  off  in  the  interior,  in  a  little  low  hut, 
with  a  door  through  which  even  children  can  not  go 
except  by  creeping,  like  other  Zulu  infants  he  ran 


98  CHJRI8T1AN  WORK 

about  unclad,  and  as  he  grew  older,  was  set  to  herd- 
ing cattle. 

His  friends  and  relations  so  grew  up,  and  are  to 
this  day  in  that  land,  where  their  laws  forbid  books 
or  any  teaching  or  preaching,  and  all  is  darkness  and 
the  shadow  of  death.  The  one  business  of  the  men 
is  to  fight,  and  if  a  man  could  learn  or  hear  of  God, 
it  is  but  the  signal  to  thrust  him  through  with  a 
spear  and  end  his  life  and  his  inquiries  together. 

But  it  chanced  when  James  was  a  boy,  that  war 
broke  out  between  the  tribes  and  his  mother,  the 
wife  of  a  chief;  knowing  her  husband's  family  to  be 
unpopular  with  the  king,  decided  to  flee  and  go  into 
the  land  where  she  would  be  under  the  protection  of 
the  British  Government.  She  therefore  with  her  boy 
set  off  on  foot  and  walked  day  after  day,  sleeping  at 
night  in  the  bush,  and  lighting  fires  to  keep  off  wild 
animals,  leopards  and  lions,  who  could  have  devoured 
them. 

She  had  some  distant  relatives  near  one  of  our 
missionary  stations,  and  joining  them,  she  placed  her 
boy  in  the  home  of  the  missionary,  she  herself  living 
in  a  little  hut  of  her  own.  The  first  duty  of  the 
Zulu  boy  is  to  his  mother,  and  James  Dube  cared 
for  his  faithfully. 

After  a  time  the  native  tribe  to  which  he  belonged 
came  to  live  near  the  same  spot;  for  with  their  inces- 
sant wars,  their  liomes  are  ever  changing.  The  tribe 
was  a  division  of  the  Zulu  tribe  named  the  Ama- 
qadi,  and  their  chief  was  James'  uncle.  James  there- 
fore was,  so  to  speak,  of  royal  blood,  and  his  friends 
set  themselves  at  once  to  get  him  away  frojn  the 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  99 

mission  station,  and  make  him  assume  his  rights  as 
chief.  As  he  grew  older,  this  would  have  secured 
him  hundreds  of  cattle ;  dozens  of  wives,  if  he  chose ; 
a  life  of  ease,  eating  and  drinking,  the  highest  glory 
and  desire  of  the  Zulu  cliief.  But  James  refused  all 
these  things,  declined  to  take  cattle  gotten  by  the 
sale  of  his  sisters  (for  a  woman  is  valued  by  the 
number  of  cattle  which  her  husband  will  pay  for 
her),  and  when  his  people,  who  numbered  forty  kra- 
als, called  him  to  take  his  place  as  their  cliief,  his 
answer  was,  "  I  want  you  to  take  Christ  for  youi'  chief 
and  I  will  gladly  be  your  servant,  and  teach  you 
about  Him."  So  he  refused  all  the  honors  of  a  chief, 
and  set  himself  steadily  to  learning,  at  length  acquir- 
ing a  good  education  for  the  land  in  which  he  lived, 
at  the  same  time  working  for  the  support  of  himself 
and  his  mother  also. 

The  British  territory  is  full  of  English  and  Scotch 
colonists,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  care  nothing 
for  religion,  and  mauy  or  most  of  those  who  do  care 
for  religion,  despise  and  hate  the  "Kaffirs." 

But  it  is  a  fact  only  to  be  appreciated  by  those 
who  know  the  contempt  heaped  upon  all  Kaffirs,  that 
in  every  part  of  the  colony,  by  the  most  abandoned 
and  vicious,  as  well  as  the  ''  Christian"  European, 
James  Dube  was  respected,  and  all  were  ready  to 
say,  '^He  is  a  Christian  gentleman,  he  shows  what  a 
Kaffir  can  be ; "  no  one  had  aught  to  say  against  him. 

After  he  had  gained  his  education  he  was  chosen 
as  a  teacher  of  his  people,  and  lived  on  the  small 
salary  he  received  as  a  teacher,  rather  than  to  have 
the  life  of  ease  and  the  riches  and  glory  of  his  hea- 


100  CHRISTIAN  WORK 

then  clneftainsLip.  He  spent  his  time  and  strength 
day  after  day  and  year  after  year  in  teaching  and 
preaching  to  his  people,  and  with  wonderful  power 
and  success.  How  many  he  led  to  the  knowledge 
and  love  of  the  Saviour  can  never  in  this  world  be 
known.  His  p»i'eaching  was  magnificent ;  his  fine, 
tall  figui'e,  his  graceful  demeanor,  his  fervid  elo- 
quence, the  power  and  grandeur  of  his  reasoning 
and  argument,  the  assurance  felt  by  all  who  heard 
him,  that  he  acted  all  he  professed — all  these  things 
none  can  know  but  those  who  understood  his  beauti- 
fully musical  and  expressive  language,  and  the  force 
Avitli  which  he  compelled  them  to  listen  and  to  re- 
member his  words.  He  believed  what  he  taught,  he 
did  what  he  taught,  and  so  his  words  were  never  lost. 

Had  he  been  in  England  or  America,  and  could 
his  sermons  have  been  printed^  his  work  would  not 
have  been  ended  with  his  life. 

But  he  died  in  his  youth,  or  before  even  middle 
life;  disease  suddenly  cut  him  off  and  he  went  to  his 
rest  and  his  reward. 

God  only  knows  the  self-denial,  the  liumility  of 
such  a  life  as  that  of  James  Dube. 

We  can  not  appreciate  what  as  a  Zulu  chief  he 
resigned,  in  becoming  simply  a  teacher  to  the  com- 
mon people.  He  taught  and  preached  far  and  wide, 
visited  the  sick,  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow ;  fed 
the  hungry  and  preached  Christ  crucified,  until  he 
went  home  to  the  Saviour  whom  he  had  served. 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  report  in  English 
some  of  his  fervid  appeals  and  eloquent  reasonhig, 


IN  ZULU  LAND.  101 

but  much  of  their  force  seems  to  be  lost.  The  mag- 
netism was  in  the  man. 

Even  when  he  spoke  English,  as  in  conversation, 
he  won  attention  and  even  admiration  from  intelli- 
gent men. 

Is  such  a  life  ended  for  this  world  ?  or  does  our 
Lord,  when  He  so  early  calls  His  servants,  appoint  to 
them  a  better  and  more  effectual  ministry,  with  no 
human  weakness  to  limit  its  power  1 


11G54GH  937  rl 

05-02-22  321  ffl      MS      ^ 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01074  3781 


